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BRIEF 

INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY 

FOR TEACHERS 



BRIEF 

INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY 

FOR TEACHERS 



BY 
EDWARD C* STRONG, Jr. 

CARNEGIE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 




BALTIMORE, MD. 

WARWICK & YORK, Inc. 

1922 






Copyright, 1919, 

Copyright, 1920, 

Copyright, 1922, 

By 

Warwick h York, Inc. 



©CI.AGbRBlIJ 



MAPLK PKKSS YOHK P. 



0CIi0 72 



To My Father and Mother 



PREFACE 

Certain principles have l^een established as fundamental to 
good teaching. Theoretically, all psychologists are agreed that a 
course of study should proceed from the known to the unknown 
and from the concrete to the general; that students should learn 
by doing; that the problem or project method of teaching is 
superior to memorization of a textbook; that functional not 
faculty psychology should be taught; that individual differences 
in students should be taken into account; that a beginning course 
should be designed for the benefit of the great majority who 
never go farther; etc. 

The aim of this course is to meet these and other ideals of 
teaching in an introductory course of psychology designed pri- 
marily for the use of prospective teachers. Instead of beginning 
with the most uninteresting phases of psychology and those 
most unknown to students, the course takes up concrete experi- 
ences of everyday life, relates them to the problems of learning, 
individual differences, and influencing others, and so develops 
these topics. Each general principle is discovered by the student 
out of his own experience in solving specially organized problems. 
Only after he has done his best is he expected to refer to the text 
and by then the text is no longer basic but only supplementary, 
clearing up misunderstandings and broadening the whole view- 
point. Behavior as a whole is considered from the start; 
gradually it is subdivided and subdivided, so that finally such 
topics as "memory" or "attention" can be discussed without 
fixing in the mind of the student the idea that they are separate 
entities. And in general the course is prepared on the assump- 
tion that the majority of students are never going to specialize 
in psychology and should consequently be "given the most interest- 
ing and useful facts and principles of psychology, regardless of 
whether or not they are usually reserved for graduate students. 

The course is conducted in a radically different way from that 
of prevailing courses. The student is immediately introduced to 
problems of behavior taken as a whole and only after he is fairly 
familiar with psychological procedure, terminology and point of 



viii PREFACE 

view is he given his psychological background. The even 
numbered lessons present problems to be solved and the odd num- 
bered lessons supply in a general way answers to the problems, 
together with a broader interpretation of the facts than the 
average student will discover for himself. For example, Lesson 
6 outlines the famihar mirror-drawing experiment. This is 
performed, say on Monday. That night the experiment is 
written up and handed in at the class-hour on Tuesday. That 
hour is devoted to a general discussion of what was discovered 
in the experiment on the learning process. At the close of the 
hour Section No. 3 is given the class containing Lessons 7 and 8. 
The class reads over Lesson 7 on Tuesday evening. At the next 
class-hour Lesson 8 is taken up in the laboratory in the same 
way as Lesson 6. Each topic is accordingly handled as follows : 
(1) The student performs an experiment illustrating the principle 
to be emphasized, (2) he solves the problem as best he can and 
hands in his report, (3) he has the benefit of a class discussion 
upon the subject at the next class-hour, (4) he reads over what 
the author has to say on the subject, (5) he receives back his own 
corrected paper on the subject; (6) he reviews the subject later 
on. All class discussion is based upon the laboratory experi- 
ences, not upon the author's presentation of the subject. The 
latter is only a supplementary aid, to correct misunderstandings 
and to furnish the student a standard by which to check his own 
work. 

Individual differences are amply provided for in such a pro- 
cedure. The poor student obtains a concrete grasp of the main 
points of the course. The able and industrious student adds to 
this minimum a very much broader and more detailed under- 
standing of the whole subject. The rate of progression is such 
that even the ablest student realizes that he is not getting all 
that there is in the course. All are thereby stimulated in a way 
that is not true when the rate is slow enough to discuss thoroughly 
every detail mentioned in the text. 

The text is printed as a book or in the form of 23 booklets. 
The advantage of the booklets is that they prevent the student 
reading ahead. This is important as the odd numbered lessons 
contain the answers to most of the problems. Where students 
read ahead they lose the training resulting from working problems 
out for themselves. 



PREFACE IX 

So many have been of general inspiration and iielp in this work 
that space will not permit special mention of their services. 
Several who have used the text in its mimeographed form have 
aided in a very definite way in revising and clarifying sections. 
They are: Miss Kate Anthony, State Normal School, Cape 
Girardeau, Mo.; Professor C. M. Faithful, Tennessee College, 
Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Professor S. C. Garrison, George Peabody 
College for Teachers; Professor W. A. McCall, Teachers' College, 
Columbia University, and Professor J. Roemer, Sam Houston 
Normal Institute, Huntsville, Texas. Professor Y. Shoninger, 
George Peabody College for Teachers, helped me very consider- 
ably in writing up the description of a ''sight-spelling lesson." 
To all these I owe very much. But I owe most to my wife, for 
her constant encouragement and assistance in the preparation 
of this text. 

The present revision and expansion of the original text has been 
made in the light of suggestions received from many instructors 
who have written me on the subject. Their interest is very 
gratefully recognized. 

I desire also to express my appreciation for the courtesy of 
authors and publishers for permission to reproduce illustrations. 
I am indebted to The American Book Company for a figure from 
D. J. Hill's The Elements of Psychology; to Dr. S. A. Courtis and 
the Department of Education, University of Indiana, for a 
figure from the Second Indiana Educational Conference Report; 
to Dr. Courtis and The World Book Company, for figures from 
Standard Practice Tests; to Dean J. R. Angell and Henry Holt and 
Company for figures from Psychology; to Dr. J. D. Lickley and 
Longsmans, Green and Company, for a figure from The Nervous 
System; to Professor Wm. McDougall and John W. Luce Co. 
for special permission to quote from Social Psychology; to Harper 
& Bros, to quote from my The Psychology of Selling Life Insur- 
ance; to Dr. W. B. Pillsbury and The Macmillan Company for a 
figure from Fundamentals of Psychology; and to Dr. E. L. Thorn- 
dike for figures and several quotations from Educational Psychology, 
Vol. III. 

Carnegie Institute of Technology, 
June 1, 1922. 



GONTENTS 



V 



Lesson Title Page 

1. What is Psychology? 1 

2. Components of Behavior 13 

3. Components of Behavior (Continued) ' . . . 20 

4. How Does One Learn to Say the Alphabet? 29 

5. Some Facts Concerning the Learning Process as Obtained 

FROM THE Alphabet Experiment 33 

6. How Does One Improve in Mirror-drawing? 41 

7. General Characteristics of the Learning Process 45 

8. Relationship of Method, Attitude and Feeling to Learning 56 

9. Relationship of Method, Attitude and Feeling to Learning 

(Continued) 59 

10. How Does One Learn A Vocabulary? 70 

IL The Learning Process Involved in Committing to Memory a 

Vocabulary 73 

12. What ARE the Laws of Retention? . . 84 

13. Retention (Continued) gg 

14. What Factors Affect the Strength of a Bond? 99 

15. Factors Affecting THE Strength OF A Bond (Continued) . . . 101 

16. How to Remember 108 

17. How to Remember (Continued) II3 

18. Summary of Lessons 1 to 17 127 

19. Measuring Differences of Performance among Individu- 

als — the Average Deviation I35 

20. How Do Individuals Differ IN Learning Mirror-drawing? . . 140 

21. Introduction to the General Subject of Individual Differ- 

ences 143 

22. How Do Different Groups of Individuals Differ with Respect 

TO Learning Simple Arithmetical Combinations? 151 

23. The Three Causes of Individual Differences — Environment 

Heredity, and Training I57 

24. The General Law as to How Individuals Differ 170 

25. The General Law as to How Individuals Differ (Continued) 173 

26. How Should Students be Graded? Igg 

27. Methods of Grading Students 191 

28. Coefficient of Correlation 206 

29. The Correlation between Human Traits — Psychological 

Tests 213 

30. Summary of Lessons 19 to 29 226 



XX 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY 

LESSON 1 

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?! 

Some of you are doubtless familiar with the story from which 
the following incident is quoted. But it bears repeating. 

Sam had never told his love ; he was, in fact, sensitive about 
it. This meeting with the lady was by chance, and although it 
afforded exquisite moments, his heart was beating in an unaccus- 
tomed manner, and he was suffering from embarrassment, 
being at a loss, also, for subjects of conversation. It is, indeed, 
no easy matter to chat easily with a person, however lovely and 
beloved, who keeps her face turned the other way, maintains 
one foot in rapid and continuous motion through an arc seemingly 
perilous to her equilibrium, and confines her responses, both 
affirmative and negative, to "U-huh." 

Altogether, Sam was sufficiently nervous without any help 
from Penrod, and it was with pure horror that he heard his own 
name and Mabel's shrieked upon the ambient air with viperish 
insinuations. 

"Sam-my and May-bul! Oh, Oh!" 

Sam started violently. Mabel ceased to swing her foot, and 
both encarnadined, looked up and down and everywhere for the 
invisible but well-known owner of that voice. It came again, in 
taunting mockery. 

"Sammy's mad, and I am glad. 
And I know what will please him, 
A bottle of wine to make him shine. 
And Mabel Rorebeck to squeeze him !" 

^ The attention of instructors is called to a booklet of instructions in which 
suggestions are made as to assignments, necessary laboratory material, and 
procedure in some of the experiments. 

1 



2 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

"Fresh old thing!" said Miss Rorebeck, becoming articulate. 
And, unreasonably including Sam in her indignation, she tossed 
her head at him with an unmistakable effect of scorn. She 
began to walk away. 

"Well, Mabel," said Sam plaintively, following, "it ain't my 
fault. I didn't do anything. It's Penrod." 

"I don't care — " she began pettishly, when the viperish 
voice was again lifted. 

"Oh, oh, oh! 
Who's your beau? 
Guess I know : 

Mabel and Sammy, oh, oh, oh ! 
I caught you!" 

• Then Mabel did one of those things which eternally perplex 
the slower sex. She deliberately made a face, not at the tree 
behind which Penrod was lurking but at the innocent and heart- 
wrung Sam. "You needn't come limpin' after me, Sam Wil- 
Uams !" she said, though Sam was approaching upon two perfectly 
sound legs. And then she ran away at the top of her speed. 

"Run, nigger, run — " Penrod began inexcusably. But Sam 
cut the persecutions short at this point. Stung to fury, he 
charged upon the sheltering tree in the Schofields' yard.^ 

Why is it that this account is interesting to us? Why did 
Sam and Mabel enjoy being together? Why were they so nerv- 
ous and uneasy? Why did Penrod call out as he did? Why 
did Mabel get mad at Sam? Why did she run away? Why did 
Sam get mad? What happened when Sam reached Penrod? 

At this point some of my readers may stop and, with hfted 
eyebrows, question silently, "Is this a game of twenty questions? 
And twenty foolish questions at that? Can this be psychology?" 

It is. All these questions are real psychological problems, 
quite as pertinent to the science of psychology as the dignified 
and dry-as-dust queries you doubtless expected. 

What then is psychology? 

In commencing any new course of study it is necessary to have 
some idea of what the whole thing is about. At the same time 

1 Booth Tarkington — Penrod and Sam, 191G, p. 220ff. 



1 WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? 3 

it is extremely difficult to obtain a clear notion since most of the 
details are unknown to the beginner. It is only after one has 
experienced details that he is in a position to understand any 
summary of them. Consequently the following definition is 
just to aid the reader in orienting himself. Only toward the end 
of the course will he be prepared to grasp its full meaning. 

Psychology may best be defined as the science of behavior. 

There is the definition. The matters dealt with in the next ten 
sections will give some of the various fields included in its bounds. 

1. A crowd surrounded the automobile of Dr. John Linder 
yesterday, when the physician stopped at Glenmore and Vesta 
Avenues after a dog had dodged beneath the auto's wheels and 
had been killed. There were men and women in the throng and 
they seemed to think that the physician had not tried to avoid the 
dog. 

Dr. Linder endeavored to explain that the most expert of motor- 
ists could not have dodged the dog, which ran barking beside the 
wheels of his auto and finally slipped under them. The crowd 
muttered angrily about motorists who had no thought for human 
lives, let alone the life of a dog, and Dr. Linder, realizing that the 
crowd soon might become dangerous, tried to start his car. 

His action aroused several men in the crowd who had been 
working themselves into a fury, and one of them struck out at the 
doctor with his fist. The physician ducked, and reaching in his 
pocket, jerked out a glittering object of nickel which he thrust 
into his assailant's face, exclaiming: — 

"Stand off. Get back from this car. I'll shoot the first man 
who interferes with me." 

The man who had struck at the physician, with all the rest of 
the crowd, fell back hastily, and Dr. Linder, seizing the oppor- 
tunity, applied the power to his car and slipped away. John 
Cargill, a blacksmith of the neighborhood, noted the number of 
of the doctor's car, however, and hurried to the New Jersey 
Avenue Court where he got a summons for the physician, call- 
ing on him to show cause why he shouldn't be punished for 
violation of the Sullivan Law against carrying weapons. The 
physician had scarcely arrived at his home when the summons 
was served and he hurried back to court in his automobile. 

Cargill was present and Dr. Linder, after explaining the acci- 



4 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

dent to Magistrate Naumer, declared that Cargill had been 
particularly aggressive. 

"He had a mob at his back," said the doctor, "and I was really 
afraid they would attack me." 

"But your revolver?" questioned Magistrate Naumer. "Do 
you not know that under the present law you may not carry a 
weapon without a permit?" 

"Why, I only threatened the crowd with this," replied the 
physician as he pulUng something from his pocket and snapped it 
into the Magistrate's face. There was a small report, and 
Magistrate Naumer clutched spasmodically at the desk in front 
of him. Then he burst into a laugh as he observed the glittering 
nickel cigar lighter which Dr. Linder held in his hand. 

Dr. Linder would not make a charge against Cargill, and the 
smith hurried out of the courtroom to the accompaniment of 
laughter in which every one joined.^ 

Why should a crowd become angry because a dog had been 
killed? Would Cargill have become as angry if he had been alone 
as he did when surrounded by a crowd? Why did the crowd 
think Dr. Linder had a gun? Why did Cargill want the Doctor 
arrested? Why did the crowd in the courtroom all laugh at 
Cargill? Why have you also enjoyed Cargill's discomfiture? 

2. A frequent sight is that of little boys fighting. Why do 
they like to fight? Why does a woman want to stop this fight- 
ing? Why will men pay half a million dollars to sit in the broiling 
sun and see a prize fight? 

3. Consider any advertisement before you. What situation is 
depicted? Does it in any way express your feelings? Could the 
advertisement be changed so that it would present a situation 
that would make you really want the commodity advertised? 

4. Consider the following cases : — 

(1) A college professor discovers that a wealthy old bach- 
elor keeps a large amount of money hidden in his house. After 
weeks of clever work he discovers where this money is kept and 
finally obtains a pass key. One night he enters the house, 
secures the money and on being discovered by the old man, 
kills him. 

1 New York Times, 1911. 



1 WHAT IS rSVCHOLOGY? 5 

(2) A young man by the name of Black from a prominent 
family is engaged to marry Miss Smith. Mr. Jones, although 
knowing of the engagement, deliberately makes love to Miss 
Smith and eventually supplants Black. When Black discovers 
the fact, in a fury of rage, he kills Jones. 

(3) C is attacked by a burglar in hi^ own home and after a 
struggle kills the burglar. 

(4) D recklessly drives his auto through the streets of a 
village and kills a young boy. 

(5) E attacks two little boys in the woods and after torturing 
them for some time, finally cuts one of them to pieces with a razor. 

In these five cases a man has killed another human being* 
Each is a murderer. Why shouldn't all be hanged for their crime ? 
Your answer, of course, is that the circumstances are different. 
Can we conclude that the five men are different sorts of men on 
the basis of the circumstances which are presented? How can 
we evaluate their conduct? in terms of their action, or in terrhs 
of the situations which confronted them, or in terms of both 
situation and response? 

5. All respectable school teachers spend some time every 
year condemning prize fights, bull fights, gambling, drinking, etc. 
Especially is this true of women teachers. Yet two of my ac- 
quaintances when visiting the exposition at San Diego several 
years ago, rode down to Tia Juana, in Mexico, and very much 
enjoyed a prize fight, lost a quarter at each of the gambling 
tables in the "joint" there, and afterwards loudly berated their 
fate because they arrived too late for the bull-fight. Is it con- 
ceivable that the difference in the situations which confront 
them at home, in the school, or at Tia Juana, is responsible for 
strong condemnation of a prize fight in one place and attendance 
at and enjoyment of one in another place? 

Do you think it possible to set down all the details making up 
the situation which confronts one and then to record the response 
made to this complex situation? If we knew all the details 
would we be able to prophesy what a person would do? Cannot 
I be certain that you will say to yourself "7" and then "cat" 
after reading the next two sentences? What does 3 and 4 make? 
What does c-a-t spell? 



6 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

6. A man, walking with a friend in the neighborhood of a 
country village, suddenly expressed extreme irritation concerning 
the church bells, which happened to be pealing at the moment. 
He maintained that their tone was intrinsically unpleasant, their 
harmony ugly, and the total effect altogether disagreeable. The 
friend was astonished, for the bells in question were famous for 
their singular beauty. He endeavored, therefore, to elucidate 
the real cause underlying his companion's attitude. Skilful 
questioning elicited the further remark that not only were the 
bells unpleasant but that the clergyman of the church wrote 
extremely bad poetry. The causal "complex" was then ap- 
parent, for the man whose ears had been offended by the bells 
also wrote poetry, and in a recent criticism his work had been 
compared very unfavorably with that of the clergyman. The 
"rivalry-complex" thus engendered had expressed itself indi- 
rectly by an unjustifiable denunciation of the innocent church 
bells. The direct expression would, of course, have been abuse 
of the clergyman himself or of his works. 

It will be observed that, without the subsequent analysis, the 
behavior of the man would have appeared inexplicable, or at 
best ascribable to "bad temper," "irritability," or some other 
not very satisfying reason. Most cases where sudden passion 
over some trifle is witnessed may be explained along similar 
lines, and demonstrated to be the effect of some other and 
quite adequate cause. The apparently incomprehensible reac- 
tion is then seen to be the natural resultant of perfectly definite 
antecedents.^ 

Did you ever "fly off the handle" at a perfectly innocent per- 
son? Have you ever ridiculed a person's clothes when the only 
trouble with the clothes was that the wearer had beaten you out 
in an examination? If your friends were aware of one or more 
of such complexes, as Hart has described above, would it help 
them in understanding your conduct? Would it help them to 
prophesy what you would do next? 

7. Now I want to be a nice, accommodating patient ; anything 
from sewing on a button, mending a net, or scrubbing the floor, or 
making a bed. I am a jack-of-all trades and master of none ! 
(Laughs ! notices nurse.) But I don't like women to wait on me 

1 B. Hart, The Psychology of Insanity, 1912, p. 73f. 



WHAT Is PSYCHOLOGY? 7 

when I am in bed ; I am modest ; this all goes because I want to get 
married again. Oh, I am quite a talker; I work for a New York 
talking machine company. You are a physician, but I don't think 
you are much of a lawyer, are you? I demand that you send for 
a lawyer. I want him to take evidence. By God in Heaven, my 
Saviour, I will make somebody sweat ! I worked by the sweat of 
my brow. (Notices money on the table.) A quarter; twenty- 
five cents. IN GOD we trust; United States of America ; Army 
and Navy Forever !" 1 

The preceding paragraph and the one that follows arc verbatim 
copies of the remarks of two different individuals. The former 
is that of a maniac and illustrates what is called ''flight of ideas;" 
the latter is that of a dementia prsecox patient and illustrates 
"incoherent speech." 

"What liver and bacon is I don't know. You are a spare; the 
spare; that's all. It is Aunt Mary. Is it Aunt Mary? Would 
you look at the thing? What would you think? Cold cream. 
That's all. Well, I thought a comediata. Don't worry about a 
comediata. You write, he is writing. Shouldn't write. That's 
all. I'll bet you have a lump on your back. That's all. I 
looked out the window and I didn't know what underground 
announcements are. My husband had to take dogs for a fit of 
sickness. 2 

Offhand one wouldn't say that there was any order or system to 
these two paragraphs, particularly the second one. And experts 
have more or less held that view until recently, when careful 
study commenced to show that there were rules and principles 
underlying even the ravings of the insane. Some day these will 
be as thoroughly understood as are physical and chemical laws 
today. 

8. Beliefs have been held as peculiarly one's own, and so 
intangible that no one until recently has dreamed of measuring 
them. Yet below there are given nine beliefs making up a sort 
of scale extending from absolute belief (100) through doubt (0) 
to absolute disbelief ( — 100). This scale is very imperfect, 

1 J. R. deFursac, op. cit., p. 72. 

^ J. R. deFursac, Manual of Psychiatry, translated by A. J, Rosanoff, 1908, 
p. 71. 



8 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

being based on but a limited number of men and women, but it 
illustrates what can be done along the line of measuring intangible 
things. 

2 plus 2 equals 4. 99 

There exists an all wise Creator of the world 73 

A house-fly has six feet 47 

The most honest man I know will be honest ten 

years from now. 21 

"Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the 

earth." - 2 

Magna Charta was signed in 1512. —22 

"It never rains but it pours." —63 

"Only the good die young." —74 

2 plus 4 equals 7. —99 

If one wishes to determine, for example, how strongly he 
believes that "dark-haired girls are prettier than light-haired 
ones," he can compare it with those statements above and so 
obtain a rating for it. The writer cannot comprehend why the 
average man should rate this belief half way between the fifth and 
sixth beliefs on the "scale," and the average woman half-way 
between the sixth and seventh. But they do. 

9. From the New York Times of about May 1, 1914, is quoted 
the following editorial comment on an article by a Superintendent 
of a Connecticut brass works which appeared in The Iron Age. 

At these works there was recently constructed a long incline up 
which heavy loads were to be wheeled in barrows, and premiums 
were offered to the men who did or exceeded a certain amount of 
this labor. They attempted it vigorously, but none succeeded in 
earning any of the extra money, instead they all fell considerably 
below the fixed task. 

Prompt investigation by an expert disclosed that the trouble lay 
in the fact that the men were working without sufficiently fre- 
quent periods of rest. Thereupon a foreman was stationed by a 
clock, and every twelve minutes he blew a whistle. At the sound 
every barrowman stopped where he was, sat down on his barrow, 
and rested for three minutes. The first hour after that was done 
showed a remarkable change for the better in accomplishment; 
the second day the men all made a premium allowance by doing 



1 WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? 9 

more than what had been too much; and on the third day the 
minimum compensation had risen, on the average, 40 per cent, 
with no complaints of overdriving from any of the force. 

Apparently a man can do more physical labor by working 12 
minutes and resting 3 minutes out of every 15 than he can if he 
works all of every 15 minute period throughout the day. This 
principle is one of the fundamental principles underlying scien- 
tific management, which has been so much discussed of late in 
various publications. Possibly this principle might be utilized 
by you in your daily life. But you may need to know consider- 
ably more of the whole subject before making the proper applica- 
tion of it to your particular type of work. 

10. How long does it take to say the alphabet? And how 
much time is required for one to say it backwards? And having 
said it once will one be able to recite it faster on a second trial? 
In Plate I is shown graphically just how much time is required to 
recite the alphabet forwards (i. e., 6.0 seconds) and backwards 
(i. e., 46.0 seconds), and furthermore how much time is required 
for each successive recitation up to twenty times. An average 
adult will decrease his time from 6.0 to 4.0 seconds in the one 
case and from 46.0 to 12.5 seconds in the second case. 

Why do we thus improve with practice? And how is the 
improvement accomplished? Where are the changes registered? 

Such a simple performance as that of saying the alphabet is 
after all very complicated. Watching a child mastering its 
intricacies gives us some little appreciation of this fact. In- 
volved in this case are many of the problems of education — prob- 
lems which are also fundamental psychological ones. We meet 
similar problems on every hand. Today a human being may be 
unable to use a typewriter, or swim, or dance, or play golf, or 
run a motor boat; he may know nothing about banking, or 
politics, or how to broil a steak, or make a cake, or trim a hat. 
Yet in a short time we may find he has acquired any or many of 
these performances. This is such a common occurrence we pay 
little attention to it. But the more we consider the matter the 
more we should marvel at it. How does a person learn to type- 
write? How comes it that his fingers hit the right keys although 
his eyes are on the sheet from which he is copying? Or take 



10 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 




Plate I. — Showing the time required (seconds) to recite the alphabet 
forwards (Curve A) and backwards (Curve B) for twenty successive trials. 
(Data based on the records of eight adults.) 



1 WHAT LS PSYCHOLOGY? 11 

another experience through which we have all gone. How 
have we come to know that 7 plus 6 is 13 or that 7 times 6 is 42? 
Have all persons learned these two performances in the same 
way? Is there one best way to learn them? If so, what is it? 
Why is it that some never can learn such things — for we have 
known boys and girls and even men and women who can't. 

What has been given in this chapter could be extended indefi- 
nitely so as to bring in incidents dealing with the differences 
between whites and negroes or Chinese; problems dealing with 
poverty and its origin, or with success and its causes; questions 
concerning delinquency in court or truancy in school; methods 
of selecting salesmen for a great corporation or telephone girls 
for thetelephone co. In fact, it may be extended so as to 
include any and every relation that exists or may ever exist 
between man and man. All of these subjects may be discussed 
and many are discussed in other divisions of knowledge, such as 
history, economics, sociology, anthropology, psychiatry, crim- 
inology, advertising, salesmanship, education, etc., but all belong 
in the science of psychology. 

Psychology has been defined as the science of behavior. It is 
concerned with the orderly presentation of the facts and laws 
which underlie human conduct. It not only includes this but 
also takes in the whole realm of living beings. Today psycholo- 
gists are not only studying how man behaves and how he learns 
but also how rats, and guinea pigs, and monkeys, and birds, and 
even earthworms, behave and how they learn. This work with 
animals may seem foolish but it has already led to a better 
understanding of many phases of human behavior and undoubt- 
edly will lead to very much more. 

Psychology has not always been defined in this way. In 
earlier days it was defined as the "science of the soul" or the 
"science of mind." Both of these definitions led to insurmount- 
able difficulties and have been discarded. A third definition, 
i. e., "psychology is the science of consciousness," is still held by 
many psychologists. With such a definition one is led to empha- 
size conscious acts and more particularly the content of con- 
sciousness to the exclusion of such phenomena as are popularly 
grouped under the headings of behavior and conduct. But of 
late, the definition upheld in this book has been adopted by more 
and more psychologists. 



12 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

And the field of psychology is being deliberately broadened 
so that it shall include all of man's activity of every sort and kind. 
At the present time it is quite clear that those who uphold the 
definition of psychology as the science of consciousness are little 
or not at all interested in applied psychology, while those who 
have espoused the definition of psychology as the science of 
behavior are also those who have been most active in the applica- 
tion of psychology to advertising, salesmanship, vocational guid- 
ance, medical and legal problems, etc. 

Such a great subject as man's behavior cannot be covered in a 
few pages or in a few weeks. A beginning course must commence 
at some point and develop it in a systematic manner. This 
means that only certain things can be considered here. What 
shall those things be? Primarily, we shall consider how man 
/learns. This will lead into many related phases of man's con- 
duct and, of course, if quite thorough would sooner or later touch 
all of man's behavior. But to attempt such a complete investiga- 
tion would be too tremendous an undertaking. We shall have to 
be content with a general survey of the learning process with 
special reference to learning in the school. We shall take up one 
example after another; we shall actually learn things in order to 
have fresh in our minds just how it feels to learn; we shall com- 
pare our progress with that of others in order to see how indi- 
viduals differ; and we shall compare one performance with 
another in order to draw up general principles and laws which 
will explain what learning is and how it is accomplished. 

After considering some of the principles underlying the way in 
which man learns and how men differ, particularly in learning, 
we shall consider third what men want, or, in other words, why 
men act as they do. As a corollary we shall further consider how 
one may get another to do as he desires. The applications 
throughout will be to the problems of education, but many will 
be taken from other fields of activity in order to illustrate the 
common relationship to be found among all of man's activities. 



LESSON 2 

COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIOR 

Human behavior is very complicated." Because it is so, the 
usual practice in commencing its study is to consider examples 
that have been artificially made simple. There are advantages 
in such a procedure, but the writer believes that there are even 
more disadvantages. What is wanted here is that the student 
shall deduce his psychological principles from everyday experi- 
ences and so be able to use what psychology he possesses at all 
times. Consequently an actual lesson in sight-spelling, as it is 
called, taken from a first grade in the grammar school, will be 
used as an illustration of certain fundamental psychological 
principles. 

The Sight-Spelling Lesson 

The sight-spelling lesson is employed by many teachers in the 
elementary school to train children in spelhng. It consists 
essentially of showing a word for a moment and then requiring 
the child to reproduce the word in writing. It is one of the 
methods used in training pupils to read words, and even sen- 
tences, before they know their letters. v 

Relationship of a Sight-spelling Lesson to Lessons in Reading 
and Writing. — In order to get the right setting for the under- 
standing of a sight-spelling lesson it will be necessary to go back 
and get clearly in mind just what a teacher has attempted to 
accomplish before commencing the teaching of spelling. This 
preliminary work as given in a typical school can be roughly 
divided into four steps : 

First. The children relate their experience in class. — Day 
after day the children are encouraged and led to talk about 
things that interest them. 

Second. These experiences are written on the hoard. — On a 
Monday about three weeks after the opening of school, the 
children are asked for example, to tell their experiences since 

13 



14 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

last Friday. One little boy may reply as follows, his sentences 
being written on the board as he gives them : — 

''I went to the country on Saturday. 

"I played with Fred. 

"We played leapfrog. 

"We played ball. 

"We had a happy time." 

The children are here given a clear conception of the fact that 
what they say may be recorded on the board — that writing has 
something to do with their very thoughts. 

Third. Drill is commenced leading to "recognition'^ of the 
sentences, phrases and words. — The teacher asks: "Who can 
find where it says, 'I went to the country on Saturday'? . . . 
Who can find where it says, 'We played leapfrog'? . . . Where 
does it say, 'We played ball'? . . . Where does it say, 'I 
played with Fred'?" etc. At first these sentences are remem- 
bered largely because of their position on the board. The child 
remembers the order in which the sentences occurred and makes 
his guesses accordingly. Soon, however, the recognitions are 
made in terms of the forin of the whole sentence. 

Right from the start whole sentences or phrases or words are 
thus drilled upon. Slowly for some children, more quickly for 
others, the forms of the words or sentences are remembered and 
connected with their sound. As the word is pronounced by the 
teacher and then pointed to by some child, the teacher rewrites 
the word and calls their attention to the fact that "This (point- 
ing to the written word) always says 'ball.'" After three or 
four days of such work in which the question has been all the 
time, "where is this," the children are ready for the fourth step. 

Fourth. Drill is given leading to "recall" of the sentences, 
phrases and words. — Here the characteristic question is, "What 
does this say?" The child here must verbally reproduce from 
memory the words and sentences as the teacher points to the 
written symbols. Here again, as the words are pointed to and 
then named by the child, the teacher frequently rewrites the 
word (for example, "ball") at the side of the sentence and says, 
"This always says ball." 

At this point writing may be introduced to the child. The 
teacher choosing some particular word, asks the children to 
watch her write it. The children watch the word as it is written 



2 COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIOR 15 

and after it has been erased go to the board and write it as best 
they can. 

The fourth step is really two steps — one deals with the recall 
of the sound of the word when it is seen (reading) ; the other deals 
with the reproduction of the form of the word after it is seen 
(writing). The former means that the child will properly move 
the muscles of his speech organs when confronted by the sight 
of the word; the other that he will properly move the muscles 
of his fingers and arm when confronted by the sound of the word. 

In a diagrammatic way we can illustrate these two processes as 
follows : — 

Reading. Seeing word "ball" saying the word "ball." 

Writing. Seeing word "ball" writing the word "ball." 

Writing. Hearing the word "ball" writing the word "ball." 

The method of developing the second part of this process of 
"recall" is called "sight-spelling." It might more properly be 
called "sight-writing," for the emphasis in the drill is upon a 
reproduction of the form of a word previously seen, but not now 
present to sight. 

The Sight-spelling Lesson in Detail.— The procedure in a 
sight-spelling lesson is as follows: The teacher pronounces the 
word "ball," then writes it on the board at the usual rate of 
writing, then pronounces the word "ball" again, allows the 
children to look at it for a moment, and erases it. Then she tells 
them that she is going to call upon them to go to the board and 
write the word there. She then rewrites the word, pronouncing it 
as she does so, and may have the class also pronounce it. After 
they have looked at it for a moment, she erases it. Then one 
or more children are sent to the board to write the word. Some 
of the children may get it correctly while others will fail. 
Those who have failed may be given one or more chances to see 
the word written again or not as the teacher is disposed. Then 
another word is presented and the procedure is repeated. 
(One of the most important elements in the whole process is the 
matter of having the child watch the teacher as she writes the 
word. It is not enough for the child to see the completed word, 
he must see it as it is written. Otherwise, he may attempt to write 
it backwards or in some other way than the correct method.) 

As this drill is continued each child learns how best to utilize 



16 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

his time while the word is exposed on the board so as to be able to 
write the word later. These methods which children adopt have 
not been worked out by adults as yet. When they are under- 
stood in all probabihty we shall be able to help the child develop 
the best method for him. What actually takes place, no matter 
how it is done, is that the child sees the word written on the 
board and then after it is erased goes to the board and reproduces 
the form of the word as he has previously seen it. (Of course it 
is not meant that the reproduction is anything but an approxima- 
tion at first, but with practice there results a fairly good imitation 
of the teacher's form.) 

Summary. — The above paragraphs have presented (1) what a 
sight-spelling lesson is, (2) the relationship between a sight- 
spelling lesson and other lessons in the first grade which have led 
up to it and (3) the detailed elements in a sight-spelhng lesson. 
We now have a general idea of the relationship of spelling to 
conversation (oral expression), reading and writing. 

The Three Components of Behavior — Situation, Bond 

AND Response^ 

At this stage in the course it will be impossible to discuss in 
detail the various steps relating to the sight-spelhng lesson or to 
work out the various psychological principles involved in any 
one step. To do so properly would necessitate a fairly complete 
knowledge of psychology — the very thing we, of course, do not 
have at our disposal just now. 

For the present it will be sufficient to get clearly in mind one 
big conception which the following three questions and their 
answers will present. 

What is the Object of the Lesson?— Evidently, to teach the 
children how to spell the words presented. Or possibly a better 
answer is — to arrange matters so that the children will learn the 
spelling of certain words. Consequently, every detail in the 
whole lesson (every act or idea of teacher or child) is related to 
this central proposition "the child learning." (And conversely, 
if there is any detail which does not actually aid the child to learn, 
it is out of place.) 

1 Of the three components mentioned here, the first and third alone will be 
discussed in this lession; the "bond" will be taken up in the following lesson. 



2 COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIOR 17 

How May All the Details in the Entire Lesson be Divided into 
Two Groups as They Relate to the Child's Learning? — On the one 
hand the child sees and hears certain things; that is, the child is 
influenced by certain things and, on the other hand, the child 
does certain things. All " the actions of the teacher, whether 
spoken words, written words, or gestures — all influence the child. 
Likewise, all the actions of other children in the room influence 
the child. And because of all this the child makes certain 
responses. Obviously then the details in any lesson fall into 
the two groups, (1) those which influence the child, and (2) those 
which constitute the child's reaction. 

How May We Designate these Two Groups of Details Which 
Make Up the Spelling Lesson? — All those details of the lessan 
which go to influence the child, all combined together, we may 
call the Situation. And all those details which constitute what 
the child does, we may call the Response. 

To illustrate these two terms, take this single incident in a 
spelling lesson. Following a discussion of a "leaf" and the 
writing of sentences on the board concerning a leaf the teacher 
then turns to the matter of teaching the writing of the single 
word. She turns and writes the word "leaf" on the board. 
Pointing to the word on the board, she announces, "This is the 
word 'leaf.'" Then she erases the word. "Now I am going to 
write the word 'leaf again on the board. I want you to watch 
carefully and see how I do it. After I have written it on the 
board, I am going to erase it. Then I am going to ask you to 
come to the board and write it." 

The Situation confronting any child, for example, Carl, and his 
Response can diagrammatically be expressed as follows : 
Situation Response 

1. Carl in school. General state of attention (a) to 

2. Presence of teacher and school- class, (b) to teacher, and (c) to 

mates. specific topic under discussion. 

3. Preceding events concerning a 

"leaf." 

4. Teacher's instructions about 

noticing the word on the board 
and then reproducing it after 
she has erased her writing. 

The teacher next goes on to say, "Now look carefully and get 
a good picture of 'leaf.' " She then writes the word on the board, 



18 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

waits a moment, and then erases it. Then she calls on Carl to 
write the word on the board. Carl goes to the board and writes 
the word in his crude style of handwriting. 

The situation confronting Carl and his response are: 

Situation Response 

1, 2, 3, and 4 above {continued). (d) Carl rises from seat, (e) walks 

5. Teacher writes the word "leaf" to board, (/) writes word 

on the board. "leaf" on board, and (g) 

6. Teacher erases word. returns to his seat. 

7. Teacher calls on Carl to write 

word on board. 

Because Carl has done well the teacher nods her approval. 
This can be represented in the same way: 

Situation Response 

1, 2, and 7 (continued). (h) Carl feels pleased. 

8. Carl's "leaf" on board. 

9. Teacher nods her approval of his 

performance. 

It is evident that the Situation comprises the details which 
influence Carl in any way, while it is also evident that the 
Response comprises all the details of Carl's behavior in responding 
to the situation. It is equally evident that the Situation and 
the Response are very complicated, being made up of many 
details. 

The first point to get in this course is that the learning process 
can be and must be resolved into the two factors "Situation" 
and "Response." All learning is the doing of something 
(Response) because of the influence exerted by certain other 
things (Situation). 

Assignment to be Prepared for the Next Class-hour 

1. Be prepared to give the steps in a sight-spelling lesson, dis- 
tinguishing particularly between the "recognition" and "recall" 
processes. 

2. Be prepared to discuss this lesson in terms of the two 
components — situation and response. 

3. Write out your analysis of Sam's behavior as given in 
the quotations from Penrod and Sam on page 1. In order to 
handle such material in the easiest manner it is best to break the 



COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIOR 



19 



story up into very short "scenes." (Thus the incident about 
Carl, above, was divided into three scenes.) 

The first four scenes would be expressed diagrammatically as 
follows: 



Situations Confronting Sam 

1. Sam in love with Mabel. 

2. Meets Mabel on the street. 

1 , 2 (continued). 

3' Mabel "keeps her face turned 
away," "maintains one foot in 
continuous motion," "confines 
her remarks to 'U-huh.' " 



1, 2, 3 (continued). 

4. Unusual feeUngs in stomach, 

heart, lungs, etc. 

5. Continues talking. 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (continued). 

6. Pcnrod's, "Sam-my and May- 

bul! Oh, oh!" 



Responses of Sam 
(a) Stops and talks with Mabel. 

(h) Leans against the picket fence. 

(c) Experiences "exquisite mo- 

ments;" "heart beating in an 
unaccustomed manner;" "suf- 
fering from embarrassment." 

(d) Continues talking although his 

"usual habits of talking are 
interfered with, due to pres- 
ence of unusual feehngs," etc. 

(e) Further arousal of sex instinct. 



(/) Starts violently, blushes. 
(g) Looks for Pcnrod. 



Finish the analysis of this passage. Be sure to write out your 
analysis, since by so doing you are forced to think definitely and 
clearly. ^ 

' From author's Psychology of Selling Life Insurance, 1922, p. 63fT. 



LESSON 3 
COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIOR (continued) 

In Lesson 2, we found that all the details in any lesson may be 
divided under the two heads, situation and response. Just to 
strengthen our grasp on this fact let us prove it in another case. 
We will take the method of teaching reading as given in Lesson 2, 
and consider not the behavior of a single person but the general 
principles underlying the behavior of all learners. 

Since language is the sine qua non of reading we may say that 
the earliest steps in such learning are taken before the child's 
first birthday. A probable situation is the entrance of the father 
and the mother's statement, "Here comes dadda." If the baby 
happens to make a noise immediately thereupon, which approxi- 
mates in any way the word "dadda," it will be greeted with wild 
enthusiasm by the parents, which will arouse the interest and 
pleasure of the baby. All of the baby's accidental successes 
will be so delightfully welcomed; his inopportune remarks ignored. 
After many such occurrences, the presence of the father and the 
sound of the word "dadda" will practically always cause the 
baby to say "dadda." After still more practice the sight of the 
father will in itself be sufficient to cause the baby to call him by 
name. For the situation has become linked to its appropriate 
response in the baby's mind. 

Many words are learned in like manner. The vocal organs 
are increasingly exercised by crying, cooing, laughing and chance 
expressions, until the child has gained the ability to make all the 
sounds in the language. After this the vocabulary grows rapidly 
and names can be repeated after one or two hearings. 

In all cases we have first the presence of the object and the 
sound of the name calling up the pronunciation of the name. 
After this is acquired the mere presence of the object is sufficient 
to induce the response of the word. Later the physical presence 
of the object is unnecessary. The ability to express ideas, 
desires, etc., develops. 

20 



3 COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIOR (CONTINUED) 21 

Before the child begins to read, then, it has already learned that 
spoken words stand for visible objects. He has now to learn that 
visible words stand for spoken words, that there can be two situa- 
tions leading to the same response. 

The object, a flag equals spoken "flag." 

The word "flag" equals spoken "flag." 

The ability to pronounce the word when one sees it in written 
form is fundamentally the ability to read. (Of course, the reading 
of a well-trained person involves much more than pronouncing 
one word at a time in response to its written form. Smooth 
reading with expression is due to the development of these 
fundamental processes so that they operate smoothly and auto- 
matically together with the development of other habits dealing 
with expression and the like.) 

What the teacher .must do then is to form a connection, or 
bond, between this situation (the word "flag") and the desired 
response (saying "flag"). This is what she does in the method 
outlined in Lesson 2, i. e., 

1. Writes sentences on board. 

2. Asks for recognition. 

3. Demands recall. 

This, it is clear, on a little consideration is the wise course of 
procedure. For at first the child has no response at all to the 
written words, "We have a big flag." The white chalk marks 
on the board mean nothing to the child. They mean, indeed, 
much less to the child than Chinese symbols do to you, the reader, 
•for the child does not even know that they stand for spoken 
words — for objects and actions. But the teacher writes the 
words, "We have a big flag" on the board and pronounces 
the sentence to the class. Thus a weak link is formed between 
the sight of the whole sentence and its sound. 

Then the child is asked to pick the sentence out from others. 
This is not so difficult as recalling it would be. We all know it is 
easier to recognize a face as having been seen before than to give 
the name belonging to the face. Even a faint connection between 
situation and response will lead to recognition. 

And, of course, every such recognition strengthens the connec- 
tion. After some drill the teacher can successfully ask what 
would have been useless before, that is, that the child recall- 



22 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

what a given sentence says; i. e., respond to the question, "What 
does this say?" pointing at the same time to the written sentence. 
With recall the last step is reached and only more drill is needed. 
Then the child can read. 

Reading is then at bottom, the moving of the muscles of the 
throat in response to certain curlicues on a page or blackboard. 
The proper control of these muscles is learned before school age. 
The joining them up with the new situation, the curlicues, is the 
task of the teacher of reading. 

The object of a school lesson seems then to be the formation of a 
bond between a given situation and a desired response. An 
approved primary method is so constituted that it leads naturally 
from a stage in which there is no bond, through a stage where 
there is a slight bond, finally to a stage where a fairly strong bond 
is established and made stronger by drill. 

Situation, Bond, and Response 

Just how a human being behaves depends upon two factors — 
upon the elements confronting him in his environment and upon 
his own internal make-up. If we know what these external 
elements are and what the internal organization of the individual 
is, we can prophesy what he will do in response to any particular 
situation. For example, we know that all educated people 
can add and spell; consequently, we can safely depend upon it 
that any educated Englishman or American will think "four," 
and then "cat," as he reads the next line: 

2 + 2 = c-a-t 

In the same way we know, if a, boy and girl are interested in 
each other, that when they meet they will show embarrassment, 
excitement, etc. If they don't show these evidences of emotion 
they are not interested in each other.' And we all know that a 
boy gets angry when called names, or caught with a girl he likes, 
or interfered with when he is with that girl. Knowing these 
things, we can prophesy a fight when Penrod provokes Sam. 

There is absolutely nothing profound or complicated in this 

psychological analysis. We all know these facts and to a very 

considerable extent act upon them. For example, what happens 

when a circle of girls suspect one of their number of being en- 

• gaged? They suddenly confront her with situations that should 



3 COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIOR (CONTINUED) 23 

make her blush or show embarrassment if she is engaged. And 
they determine whether she is guilty or not, not by what she 
says, but by the tone of her voice and her manner. For words 
we can fairly easily control, but not the tone of voice or manner. 
Analysis of Behavior. — Suppose that without noticing what I 
am doing I put my hand on a hot radiator. The next moment I 
jerk it off, of course. Here we have the simplest kind of behavior. 
The hot radiator stimulated nerve endings in the skin of my 
hand, nervous current flowed over the sensory nerve to the 
spinal cord, from there it was directed out over motor nerves to 
the muscles of my arm, they contracted and jerked my hand 
away. All this would happen in just the same way were I 
asleep or awake; in other words consciousness is not involved. 
Later on I may be conscious or not, depending upon circum- 
stances. The elements involved in all this are : 

1. Hot radiator in contact with skin. 

2. Sense-organs (nerve-endings) in skin aroused by heat. 

3. Nerve current to nerve center. 

4. Nerve current through nerve center. 

5. Nerve current from nerve center to muscles. 

6. Contraction of muscles (hand pulled away). 

Before attempting to see what this means, consider a second 
example of behavior. Upon seeing "2 + 2 = " I instantly 
think "4." Here the following elements are involved: 

1. "2 +2 = " 

2. Sense organ of sight (eye) stimulated. 

3. Nervous current from retina of eye to brain. 

4. Nervous current through brain (nerve-centers). 

5. Nervous current from brain to muscles. 

6. Contraction of muscles in throat (for when I think "4" the 
muscles of the throat move). 

In addition there is: 

7. Consciousness of (a) seeing "2 + 2 = " and (6) thinking 
"4." (No one knows what relationship exists between "7. 
Consciousness" and "4. Nervous current through brain nerve- 
centers," but apparently consciousness is present only when such 
nerve-centers are aroused. 

Analysis of one more example of behavior, which is slightly 
more complicated, will aid in making our point clear. John is 
asked by his teacher " If you had a quarter and bought four apples 



24 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

at four cents each, how much money would you have left?" 
Here the elements are: 

1. Problem presented by teacher to John in school. 

2. Sense-organs of hearing and sight stimulated. 

3. Nervous current to brain. 

4. Nervous current through brain. 

5. Nervous current from brain to muscles. 

6. Contraction of muscles, saying "nine cents." 

7. Consciousness of: 

(a) being in school, in arithmetic class, of being called 

upon by teacher, etc. 

(b) problem. 

(c) thinking 4X4. 

(d) thinking 16. 

(e) thinking 25 - 16. 
(/) thinking 9. 

Here we have quite a complicated lot of factors. They could 
be made to appear still more complicated if they were subdivided 
into still finer divisions. 

One Way of Grouping Elements. — These elements can be 
grouped roughly under the three headings of situation, bond, and 
response, so that all the elements that affect the individual are 
put under the heading of situation; all the elements that are 
involved in the result are put under the heading of response; and 
the connection between situation and response is classed as bond. 
When so grouped we should have: 

Situation Bond Response 

1. Problem, etc. 4. Nervous current 5. Nervous current to 

2. Sense-organ aroused. through brain. muscles. 

3. Nervous current to 6. Muscular contrac- 

brain. tions. 

7. Consciousness of : 7. Consciousness of: 

(a) being in school, etc. (e-f) thinking out 

(6) problem, solution. 

The situation will always be used in the practical sense of 
including (a) objects arousing sense-organs to activity, and (6) 
presence^ of all other elements in mind at the time. For example, 

^ Strictly speaking, the very general term "presence" must be used and 
not "consciousness" because one responds to elements that are present but 
not necessarily conscious, as, for example, restlessness and listlessness as 
responses to a slight fever not consciously realized. 



3 COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIOR (CONTINUED) 25 

in the story of Penrod and Sam, Mabel is an object which stiniu- 
hites Sam's eye, he becomes conscious of her, and at the same 
time is conscious of his interest in her. All these together cause 
him to stop and talk to her. 

The response will always be used in the practical sense of includ- 
ing (a) muscular movements, (6) change in activity of glands 
(e. g., flow of saliva upon seeing a well-cooked beefsteak) and 
other physiological changes within the body (e. g., heart beating 
faster) and (c) consciousness of result from responding to situa- 
tion (e. g., answer to problem, satisfaction at getting it correct, 
etc.). 

The bond will always refer to the connection between situation 
and response — a connection to be thought of as a pathway made 
up of nerve-cells and a pathway over which current passes when 
the situation occurs. 

Situations are Ordinarily Complex. — ^When you read "2 -f- 
2 = " you are confronted with a very simple situation. But 
when Sam replied to Mabel by saying, "Well, Mabel, it ain't my 
fault. I didn't do anything. It's Penrod," he was responding 
to a very complex situation. It involved his love for Mabel, her 
presence, his unnatural feelings and emotions, the presence of 
Penrod, Penrod's remarks, Mabel's reactions to Penrod shown in 
her remarks to Sam and her walking away. But these were 
only a beginning. Such other factors were involved as, Sam's 
being born a boy, a certain number of years before, with definite 
hereditary tendencies; his having grown up in a rough-and-ready 
boy society. Eliminate any one of these elements of the total 
situation confronting Sam and his response would be different. 

Can an item he both a response and a situation? — The analysis 
of the passage from Penrod and Sam has undoubtedly puzzled 
many, in that certain items were listed in one "scene" as 
responses and then in the next "scene" as situations. For 
example, one response on the part of Sam on meeting Mabel 
was "exquisite moments," "heart beating in an unaccustomed 
manner," "suffering from embarrassment." These phenomena 
resulted from meeting her. But they in turn immediately com- 
menced to affect his further behavior. Thus the wildly beating 
heart and irregular breathing interfered with his talking. In 
the same way the response of thinking out the answer " nine cents " 
to the problem analyzed above can be broken up into scenes 



26 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

to show that as each element in the response occurs it immediately 
joins with all the other elements in the situation to cause the 
next response. 

Behavior is a steady stream of events. In analyzing it we have 
to break it up into short scenes in order to discuss it. In doing so 
we do violence to some of the facts. But if we bear in mind that 
the scenes are artificial units of behavior, that behavior is flow- 
ing along, and that details from without first make some impres- 
sion and then very often these responses in turn join with the 
next details from without as causes for the next impression, we 
shall not go far astray in our study. 

A Second Way of Grouping Elements Entering into Behavior. — 
At times it is very helpful for clear thinking to distinguish 
between the object in the situation and the conscious elements 
present in the mind at the time. The term "stimulus'' (plural 
stimuli) will accordingly be used to refer solely to the external 
object stimulating a sense-organ. 

There is no corresponding term which covers the muscular and 
glandular response to stimulation and does not include the 
conscious elements of response. But when the formula stimulus- 
bond-response is employed, the term response should be 
interpreted in the narrower sense, whereas when the formula 
situation-bond-response is used, the term response should be 
interpreted in the broader sense. 

This double way of dividing behavior into its components is 
very troublesome to beginning students in psychology. As the 
course progresses the matter will gradually become clearer and 
clearer; particularly so, if the student will keep clearly in mind 
that when situation-bond-response occurs the emphasis is being 
put upon cause and effect, whereas when stimulus-bond- 
response occurs, emphasis is being put strictly upon the factors 
outside the individual as they affect him. And in such cases 
the elements within his brain are to be thought of as due to sys- 
tems of nerve-cells that have been aroused to activity— hence are 
to be viewed as part of the bond. 

Further Consideration of the Term "Bond." — The term "bond" 
conveys the meaning of connecting situation and response. 
Instead of "bond" the term "mechanism" could be employed, 
so calling to mind a system of rierve cells that operates as a unit. 
And again, instead of "bond" the term "experience" could be 



3 COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIOR (CONTINUED) 27 

used, thus emphasizing that the individual is acting in terms of 
his own experience, or that of the race, born in him. When 
"bond" is used all three of these conceptions should be thought 
of. The response follows the situation because a mechanism 
has been set into operation connecting the two together and this 
connection represents the experience of the past. 

Scientific Conception of Behavior 

The teacher (and most of us do more or less teaching during 
our lives) needs to realize that his task is to so present stimuli 
that a situation will confront the child which will lead to the 
desired response. This means the teacher must acquire a fund 
of knowledge and experience so as to know the psychological 
connections between situations and responses. Such knowledge 
will help in two ways : first, it will enable the teacher to present 
the right stimuli and second, it will cause the teacher immediately 
to look for the presence of unsuspected elements in a situation 
when the desired response does not result. For example, a boy 
was transferred from one school to another and at the bottom of 
the transfer was written, "George is a good boy and gets his 
lessons well." The new teacher stuck the transfer on a hook on 
the wall where it was seen by the children in the room. George 
had been a good boy in the sixth grade, but no situation that the 
seventh grade teacher could devise would cause good behavior 
because he was always reacting to the jibes of his fellows about 
being a good boy. Lack of knowledge of how a twelve-year-old 
boy must respond to the situation "good boy" from his play- 
mates caused this teacher a "heap" of unnecessary trouble. 

Summary 

Two principal points have been presented so far. First, the 
nature of psychology and what psychologists are attempting to 
do, and second, that behavior can be viewed in terms of the three 
components — situation, bond, and response. 

Object of Lessons 4 to 18 

In the next fifteen lessons an analytical study of the learning 
process will be made. Very simple tasks of learning will be 
assigned and careful observations of how each task is accom- 



28 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

plished will make many of the fundamental principles of learning 
apparent. 

The next class-hour will be devoted to such an experiment. 
Before coming to class, read over the instructions in Lesson 4 up 
to the heading: "Instructions for writing up the results." But 
do not practice the experiment. If you do, you are quite likely to 
get results at the next class-hour that will be misleading and 
extremely difficult to write up. 



LESSON 4 
HOW DOES ONE LEARN TO SAY THE ALPHABET? 

The first laboratory assignment in a new course of study must 
necessarily be very simple, else the beginning student will be 
swamped with all the details confronting him. Consequently, 
we shall study here what is apparently a simple problem, i. e., 
the processes involved in learning the alphabet^ — ^particularly in 
learning to say it backwards. But although the assignment in 
one sense is very simple, yet in another sense it is most profound. 
No one can list all the processes that are involved here nor 
understand any of them absolutely. 

The student commencing this course should carry with him 
much of the spirit of the early pioneer. He is starting on a 
journey of exploration in which some of the landmarks are known 
and mapped for him but most of the smaller points of interest 
are not mapped and still remain to be discovered. This course 
in educational psychology will afford every student opportunities 
for discovering facts and principles regarding the learning process 
not now recorded in any textbook. Consequently he may attack 
this seemingly trivial assignment in the spirit of exploration and 
with the determination to discover new things. 

1. Problem. — What happens when you recite (1) the alphabet 
forwards twenty times, and (2) the alphabet backwards twenty 
times? 

2. Apparatus. — A watch with a second hand. (If you do not 
have such a watch, obtain one from the instructor.) 

3. Procedure. — Two persons will work together; one will be the 
Subject (person to do the reciting) and one will be the Experimenter. 
When both are ready the Experimenter will watch the second 
hand and when it reaches 58 on the dial will call out, "Get 
ready," and when it reaches 60 will say "Go." The Subject 
will then recite the alphabet as fast as possible. When the 
Subject reaches the letter "Z" the Experimenter notes the 
number of seconds that have elapsed and records it in his notes. 

29 



30 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

The Experimenter will find it necessary to have before him the 
alphabet written out so that as the Subject recites he may follow 
with his eye and note any mistakes in the Subject's recitation. 

After each of the 20 trials, the Experimenter should record (a) 
the time required by the Subject to recite the alphabet, (6) any 
mistakes in doing so, (c) any changes in method he may note, 
(d) any other interesting facts. 

Having finished the above, repeat the whole procedure but this 
time recite the alphabet backwards, instead of forwards. The 
Experimenter should write out the alphabet backwards in order 
to aid him in catching the mistakes of the Subject. The Ex- 
perimenter will not prompt the Subject except to say, "No," 
when the Subject gives a wrong letter. 

As before, the Experimenter will record (a) the time required 
by the Subject to recite the alphabet backwards, (b) any mistakes 
in doing so, (c) any changes in method, (d) any other interesting 
facts. 

(Finish the above before reading further.) 

Instructions for Writing up the Experiment 

If possible both partners should arrange to prepare the assign- 
ment together. If this is not possible, then the Subject should 
secure a copy of the Experimenter's notes. Both should prepare 
this assignment and hand it in at the next class-hour. 

How to Plot a Learning Curve. — Refer to the curves shown in 
Plate I, as a model. The curves of no two persons are ahke, 
consequently yours will not agree exactly with the two given in 
Lesson 1. 

Plot the data you have secured in the two parts of the experi- 
ment. Do as follows: Secure a sheet of co-ordinate paper. 
Draw a line across the bottom of the sheet about a half inch from 
the bottom. Draw another line at right angles to this base line 
along the left-hand side of the sheet, about a half inch from the 
edge of the paper. At intervals of about one-fourth inch number 
consecutively from 1 to 20 underneath the base line. Number 
the lines along the vertical line consecutively from 1 up as far 
as the paper permits. Call the base line ''0." 

The numbering along the base line represents the successive 
trials from 1 to 20. The numbering along the vertical axis 



4 HOW DOES ONE LEARN TO SAY THE ALPHABET? 31 

represents the amount of time consumed in reciting the alphabet. 
Hence at the right of the figure 20 write the word "Trials" and 
at the top of the page above the last number in the vertical scale, 
write the word "Seconds." 

When this is done, note the time-record in the first recitation of 
the alphabet. Suppose this is 6 seconds. Now mark a small 
"x" at the intersection of the line numbered "6 seconds" and 
the line numbered "trial 1." Suppose the second trial was done 
in 5 seconds. Then mark similarly a small "x" at the intersec- 
tion of the 5-second line and the 2d-trial line. (If it was 5}--2 
seconds, instead of 5, the cross would be made half-way between 
the 6-second and the 5-second hne.) When you have marked 
the twenty "x's," then connect them together withs traight lines. 
This jagged line represents the learning curve in saying the alpha- 
bet forwards. Draw the learning curve for saying the alphabet 
backwards in the same way. 

Give a title to the sheet, such as "Learning Curves for Reciting 
the Alphabet Forwards and Backwards." 

How to Write up the Experiment.— 1. The problem. — State 
what is the problem you are attempting to solve. In this case 
the problem may be stated as "How Does One Learn to Say the 
Alphabet?" 

2. Apparatus. — State under this heading what apparatus 
you used in solving the problem, as "A watch with a second 
hand." 

3. Procedure. — State what you did in order to secure your 
results. Give date and names of the Experimenter and Subject, 
first of all. In this course you need not copy the procedure as 
given in the text but may state, "Followed instructions as given 
in manual, except ." Then give in detail any deviations. 

4. Results. — Here record (1) your time records, (2) mistakes 
made, (3) changes in method, (4) other interesting facts, (5) your 
curves. In other words, record under this heading the material 
you have gathered together in performing the experiment. 

5. Interpretation. — Here ordinarily you would summarize 
your results and explain what they mean. At the beginning of 
this course you will be aided in interpreting your results by 
being given specific questions to answer — questions which help 
you summarize and explain your results. In this case, answer 
the following questions: 



32 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

(a) How do your two learning curves differ? Explain why. 
(6) In what respects do the two curves agree? Explain. 

(c) Why is it possible to recite the alphabet faster and with 
fewer mistakes on the twentieth trial than on the first trial? 
Has the Situation changed? Has the Response changed? 
Or has the Bond changed? 

(d) Why do you suppose in Lesson 3, Carl could write the word 
"leaf" on the board after having seen his teacher write it and not 
before? What changed there — the situation, the response, or 
the bond? 

6. Applications. — Record concrete cases where principles 
developed here will apply in other phases of life. For example, in 
learning to use a saw, one will saw through a 6-inch plank very 
slowly the first time and will do a pretty poor job. Next time the 
job will be done in less time and with fewer ragged edges. Suc- 
cessive trials will result in better and better work. The greatest 
progress will be made in the early trials. 

In this lesson you have been confronted with several things, 
which were probably new to you, such as: — 

1. Saying the alphabet backwards. 

2. A learning curve and its characteristics. 

3. Plotting a curve. 

4. Writing up a laboratory experiment according to a pre- 
scribed outline. 

It will require a number of further lessons before the last three 
of these propositions will become thoroughly established. Apply 
what you have learned in this experiment to yourself. It will 
take time to write up this experiment and you will not do it 
without many mistakes. A month from now you will have cut 
3'our time in half and you will not make those mistakes. Do the 
best you can in the time you have for preparing the lesson. 



LESSON 5 

SOME FACTS CONCERNING THE LEARNING PROCESS 
AS OBTAINED FROM THE ALPHABET EXPERIMENT 

All learning is dependent upon practice, upon performing what 
is to be learned. That is the way you originally learned to say 
the alphabet forwards and that is the only way you can learn to 
say it backwards. 

In like manner you must yourself work out the assignments of 
the course. And to the extent that you do actually answer the 
questions, to just that extent you have a real grasp of the con- 
tents of the course. 

In order to afford you a check upon your work so that you may 
know how well you are doing it, the odd-numbered lessons (e. g., 
lessons 5, 7, 9, etc.) will answer the problems raised in the even- 
numbered lessons (e. g., lessons 4, 6, 8, etc.). These answers are 
not complete answers; no one knows enough today to answer 
absolutely completely. But they will furnish sufficiently 
complete answers for the purpose of the course. 

It goes without saying that you will lose the full value of the 
course if you refer to the odd-numbered lessons before handing in 
your written reports upon the corresponding even-numbered 
lessons. 

Answers to Questions in Lesson 4 

How Do Your Two Learning Curves Differ? Explain Why. — 

(1) The "saying alphabet forwards" curve drops very httle, 
whereas the other curve drops a great deal. That is, there is very 
little improvement in the first case and a great deal in the 
second. 

2. The curve in the first case is practically a straight line 
(disregarding now the irregular fluctuations) while the curve in 
the second case shows a very great drop at first with less and less 
of a drop as the trials continue. 

3. The second curve is throughout "higher" than the first 
curve. 

Explanation. The learning curve of a performance that 
3 33 



34 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

has not been practised, shows a big drop after each trial, but as 
the trials continue, the curve drops less and less until it finally 
reaches a certain limit. In the case of saying the alphabet for- 
wards we must realize that the early trials (with their resulting 
big drops) have occurred long ago. We are dealing possibly 
with trials 1001 to 1020 and can expect only very slight improve- 
ment from trial to trial. In fact we must be fairly near the limit 
of speed that can be obtained in this performance. 

The chief difference between the two curves is to be explained 
by the fact that the first curve is the only portion we have of a 
learning curve made up of, say, a thousand and twenty repeti- 
tions, whereas the second curve is actually representative of the 
beginning of a learning process. The first curve must needs be 
nearly a straight line with only a slight drop, while the second 
curve must needs show large drops between each successive 
trial, but smaller and smaller drops as the repetitions continue. 
If we kept up the reciting of the alphabet backwards 10 times 
a day for a month or more possibly we would then get a curve on 
the last day that would be similar to our first curve. 

From the shape of the curve we can then tell something as to 
the amount of training which has already preceded the first trial 
shown in the curve. 

In What Respects Do the Two Curves Agree? Explain. — (1) 
Both drop. Both show improvement in the work done. 

Explanation. A fundamental law of human behavior is the 
only explanation that can be given for the fact that both curves 
drop. Continued repetition of a performance results in that per- 
formance becoming easier and easier and when there is any effort 
made to decrease the time of doing it, the performance is done 
in less and less time. 

2. Both show fluctuations. Improvement is not always shown 
between successive trials. Sometimes the performance is much 
inferior to that of several preceding trials. 

Explanation. The performance of any act is made up of many 
parts. Learning the whole performance (e. g., saying the alpha- 
bet backwards) consists in learning to do each little part and in 
learning to do them in the correct order. Sometimes the parts 
are all fairly well done — then we make a better record than 
usual — there is a sudden drop in the curve. Sometimes the 
parts are done poorly — ^then we make a poorer record than 



5 FACTS CONCERNING THE LEARNING PROCESS 35 

usual — there is an upward shoot to the curve. Most of the time 
we tlo some parts well and some poorly — then we make an 
average record. 

The causes as to why any part is done poorly or well will be 
taken up later. (Commence watching for them. Note why you 
fumble in tying your shoes, putting on your hat, shaving, spread- 
ing butter on a slice of bread, misspelling a word, answering a 
question incorrectly in an examination, etc.) 

In What Respects Do the Situations and Responses Differ at 
the Beginning and End of the Two Experiments? Explain 
Why. — (This question is inserted in addition to those asked in 
Lesson 4.) 

As to situation. 

1. Certain details were added to the situation. Certain details 
affected the Subject more and more, e. g. — 

(a) Certain combinations of letters are difficult (e. g., 

w, v, u, t.) and so are watched with more than 
ordinary care. 

(b) Letters said at first more or less one at a time, later 

become grouped — groups thus take the place of 
single letters as the items which affect the subject. 

(c) The ideas, "I must go fast," "I must not make 

mistakes," impress the subject more and more. 
-2. Certain details were eliminated more or less from the situa- 
tion, e. g. — 

(a) Strangeness of surroundings ceased to affect the 

Subject. 

(b) Strangeness of requirement — to recite alphabet in 

psychology class — was forgotten. 

(c) Presence of other individuals, their conversation, etc. 

became less noticeable. 

(d) Presence of the Experimenter, the fact that he was 

watching, the fact that he was taking notes, the 
fact that he was timing, etc., had less effect. 
In other words, as learning progressed, the situation actually 
changed. Certain details affected the Subject more and more 
and certain other details less and less. 
As to response 

1. Actual performance was done (a) more quickly, (fe) with 
fewer mistakes, (c) more smoothly. 



3C INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

2. Feelings of strangeness, unfamiliarity, nervousness, excite- 

ment, unpleasantness, etc., became changed more or 
less to feelings of familiarity, confidence and pleasant- 
ness, etc. 

3. Actual method of doing work was changed, particularly in 

saying alphabet backwards, e. g. — 
(a) At first alphabet had to be recited forwards in order 
to say it backwards; later this became unnecessary. 
(6) It was recited in short pieces with pauses in between. 

(c) Pauses became shorter, groupings of letters longer 

and longer. 

(d) Etc. 

The process of learning involves then not simply doing work 
faster and faster with fewer and fewer mistakes, but also atten- 
tion to different details in the situation coupled with qualitative 
changes in method (The above changes in both situations and 
response are actually due very largely to changes in the bond. 
From practice there results a better and better co-ordination and 
functioning of neural path-ways and the elimination of other 
path-ways that interfere with the work in hand. As explained in 
Lesson 3, these changes can be referred, however, to the situation 
or response.) 

Why is it possible to recite the alphabet faster and with 
fewer mistakes on the twentieth trial than on the first trial? 
Has the situation changed? Has the response changed? Or 
has the bond changed? 

The first part of this question has been answered under the 
second question, above. 

Has the situation changed? In one sense, No. There are the 
same factors outside the learner at the twentieth trial that were 
there at the first trial. But in another sense, Yes. In some way 
or other the learner has changed, so that he is influenced less by 
certain of the outside factors and more by other outside factors. 
Actually from the standpoint of the learner, then, the situation 
has changed, he is affected by details in a different way from what 
he was at the start. 

Has the response changed? Undoubtedly. This is shown by 
the decrease in time and the increase in accuracy, also by the 
change in attitude toward the task. 
' What other changes have there been? We shall come to see 



5 FACTS CONCERNING THE LEARNING PROCESS 37 

that the bond or mechanism within the learner that is affected 
by outside factors and that controls the learner's muscles (for 
all behavior is composed of muscular movements) has been 
changed by the repetition of the alphabet. 

We may think of this nervous mechanism as having been 
changed, on the one hand, so that now in this particular situation 
it is more susceptible to certain details and less susceptible to 
other details, and on the other hand, that it controls and directs 
the muscles engaged in speaking differently from what it did at 
the start. The learner is certainly more susceptible to the diffi- 
culties of reciting " w, v, u, t" than at the start. He is also less 
concerned with the presence of his partner than at the start, and 
undoubtedly does recite the alphabet backwards in a much better 
manner than at the start. His behavior is different. His 
response to the situation is different. 

Learning to say the alphabet backwards comprises a certain 
situation, a certain response and a bond between the two. At the 
start this bond is very imperfectly developed. As repetition 
continues, the bond is developed until finally the situation (Ex- 
perimenter says, "recite the alphabet backwards") is adequately 
bound to the various muscular movements which cause the letters 
of the alphabet to be sounded. 

Let us look upon the multiplication table in this same way. 
The teacher asks, "What is 6 timesS?" The child responds "48." 
The situation, in terms of the child, is (1) the teacher, (2) the 
sounds making up "What is 6 times 8?" Certain muscles in the 
throat and mouth move and the child has said "48." Connecting 
the ear and the throat muscles are various nerve-centers and 
nerve-fibres. The stimulation in the ear has been communicated 
in a wonderful way over these nerve-pathways to the muscles 
in the throat and they have been moved — and "48" is said. 
The terms, "Situation," "Bond," and "Response," may be 
thought of now as covering this whole learned performance. 

Why do you suppose Carl in Lesson 2 could write the word 
"leaf" on the board after seeing his teacher write it and not 
before? What changed there — the situation, the response or 
the bond? 

If Carl has learned to write the word without knowing his 
letters, then the sight of the word and sound of the word have 



38 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

both become bound up with the movements of making the word. 
While Carl looked at the word and while he listened to the sound 
of the word, he wrote the word in the air, i. e., made the move- 
ments necessary to write the word. Diagrammatically, we have 

Sight of word > Movements involved in writing word. 

Sound of word > Movements involved in writing word. 

Through previous training in school and outside Carl had learned 
how to trace a drawing. Hence when he saw the word he was 
able to trace the word in the air. After a sufficient number of 
repetitions the bond connecting this situation with this response 
became strong enough to function. But the possession of a 
bond between seeing the word " leaf " and writing it was not enough, 
else Carl could not write the word when his teacher pronounced it. 
While Carl was looking at the word he was also muttering it to 
himself. The teacher was also pronouncing it. Hearing the 
word then was part of the situation. And while hearing it he 
was also writing it in the air. Repetition of this detail of the 
situation and the response shortly resulted in a bond being formed 
between hearing the word and writing it. 

To answer the question, we must reply that a bond was formed 
between sight of the word "leaf" and the movements necessary 
to write it, also a bond between hearing the word and writing it. 
There has been a development of new bonds and consequently a 
new response. Before there was no bond and hence no writing 
response to the word "leaf." Afterwards there is a bond and so 
an appropriate response is possible. 

It should be borne in mind that the above analysis is not so 
full as it should be. And it should further be borne in mind that 
this analysis may be true of some children and not true of others. 
We do not know today just how all children come to do these 
things. Some details will be added as this course develops. 

Summary of Points Covered So Far in This Course 

1. Analysis of sight-spelling lesson. 

2. Understanding of the terms, "Situation," "Bond," and 

"Response." 

3. Realization that a situation is a complex affair made up of 

many details and a response is correspondingly complex. 

4. Method of plotting a learning curve. 

5. The fact that repetition of the same performance produces 



5 FACTS CONCERNING THE LEARNING PROCESS 39 

changes in the real situation, in the response, and in 
the bonds connecting situation with response. 

6. Some characteristics of learning curves. 

7. A method of writing up a laboratory exercise, involving the 

classification of your material under six headings:— 
(a) The Problem, what you are trying to do. 
(6) The Apparatus, what you have to work with. 

(c) The Procedure, how you go at solving the problem. 

(d) The Results, what information you discover. 

(e) The Interpretation, what you decide the results mean. 
(/) The Application, how the general principles outlined 

under "Interpretation" can be applied to other 
problems. 

Some Information Concerning the Construction of 

Curves 

1. All learning curves are based on two columns of data. The first column 
indicates the successive trials or successive units of time in terms of which 
the progress of learning is measured. The second column gives the measure- 
ments of the learning. For example, the data on which Curve B in Plate I is 
based are as follows: 

Number of Seconds Required to Recite 
Trials the Alphabet Backwards 

1 46.0 

2 30.1 

3 28.4 

4 27.8 

5 • 25.1 

6 22.9 

7 21.0 

8 21.8 

9 21.2 

10 20.1 

11 20.2 

12 16.9 

13 18.2 

14 16.0 

15 15.3 

16 15.6 

17 13.6 

18 13.9 

19 15.5 

20 12.5 

2. The trials are indicated along the horizontal axis and the "measure- 
ments of the learning " along the vertical axis. 



40 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



3. Figures for the horizontal scale should always be placed at the bottom 
of the chart and the figures for the vertical scale at the left. Make clear 
what the scales mean. 

4. In the curves in the psychological field, the horizontal scale should read 
from left to right and the vertical scale from bottom to top. 

5. All lettering and all figures on a chart should be placed so as to be 
read from the base or from the right-hand edge of the chart. 

6. Points on the curve should be indicated with little crosses (x) and 
connected with a line that is heavier than the co-ordinate ruling so that the 
curves may be clearly distinguished from the background. 




Plate II. — Model graph, showing how zero base line should be indicated when 
there would not otherwise be space available to include the base line. 

7. Only in exceptional cases should the zero line of the scale be omitted. 
If it would require too much space to include the zero base line, the bottom 
should be a slightly wavy line indicating that the field has been broken off and 
does not reach to zero. This is shown in the accompanying graph, Plate II. 

8. The title of a chart should be so complete and so clear that misinter- 
pretation will be impossible. In fact, the ideal is to write so definitely that 
if a stranger picked up the chart he could understand what it meant. ^ 

1 Good references on this subject for those interested in the subject are : 
W. C. Brinton, Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts, 1914 and C, Alexander, 
School Statistics and Publicity, 1919. 



LESSON G 
HOW DOES ONE IMPROVE IN MIRROR-DRAWING? 

In Lessons 4 and 5 we obtained some idea of the process by 
which one learns an alphabet. The same general principles 
will apply more or less to the learning of lists of things, such as 
conjugations, declensions, etc. 

Today we are interested in discovering the general character- 
istics of the learning process in such cases as learning to write 
with a pen, to ride a bicycle, to skate, to use a saw, etc. As 
adults are all able to write it is manifestly impossible to study 
with adult subjects the learning processes involved in hand- 
writing. For that reason the experiment will be devoted to 
learning to draw while looking in a mirror. This process 
involves many factors which are common to learning handwrit- 
ing. Endeavor as best you can to understand this learning proc- 
ess as it will help you to understand what a child experiences 
while learning. 

As before, one partner will act as Experimenter (E) and the 
other as Subject (S). Here the emphasis will be upon complet- 
ing the drawing of 17 stars in the mirror-drawing apparatus. 
This can only be done by prompt and efficient effort. 

The Mirror-Drawing Experiment 

Problem. — How does one improve as one learns to draw in the 
Mirror-Drawing apparatus? 

Apparatus. — Mirror-Drawing Outfit; 17 six-pointed star blanks, 
watch. 

Procedure. — 1. The Experimenter determines how long it 
takes the Subject to trace the outline of the star, without using 
the mirror. Let him start at the point marked in the star and 
draw naturally around within the two lines. 

2. Experimenter arranges the apparatus so that Subject can 

41 



42 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

not see his own hand directly, but only through the mirror. 
Subject is to trace the outline of the star as quickly as possible 
with a lead pencil. 

The requirement is that the pencil must stay on the paper, and 
must pass in order around the star. Measure the time required 
to pass around the star. Then record the number of times the 
pencil line touches either of the two printed lines. Each one 
should be counted a mistake. Furthermore, when the pencil is 
outside of the two printed lines, each change in direction should 
also be countetl as one mistake. 




Plate III. — Star blank for mirror-drawing experiment. (Actual size 4}^ X 

5 inches.) 



The star should be so placed that the starting point is towards 
S as he sees it in the mirror. If now each point is numbered from 
1 to 12 (12 being at the starting and ending point and 1 at the 
point to S's right as he sees it in the mirror), it will be found to 
make the matter of writing up the laboratory notes much easier, 
for all places on the star can thus be easily referred to. 

3. Have S trace 14 more stars in the mirror-drawing apparatus, 
making a total of 15 in all. Obtain the time for each trial. 



6 HOW DOES ONE IMPROVE IN MIRROR-DRAWING? 43 

Be sure to write on each star blank the number of the trial 
and the name of the Subject, also the time consumed in doing 
the drawing. Otherwise a gust of wind may mix up your papers 
and ruin your experiment. 

4. Have S trace another star as he did in (1) without the use 
of the mirror. 

This provides for the use of 17 star blanks; 2 are used without 
the mirror and 15 with the mirror. 

Results. — E should have recorded then, (1) the time of each 
performance, and (2) the number of false moves to be observed 
by counting the number of times the lead pencil touches or 
crosses a printed line, and the changes in direction when with- 
out the printed line. 

The learning curves. Plot both the time-records and the 
accuracy-records. Provide on the base line space for 17 trials; 
on the vertical axis space for recording up to 300 seconds. (You 
can do this by letting each horizontal line represent 5 or 10 sec- 
onds.) Remember trials 1 and 17 were made without the 
mirror; trials 2 to 16, with the mirror. Do not connect trial 1 
with 2 or 16 with 17. Connect trial 2 with 3 with 4, etc., up to 
16, using a solid line; and trial 1 with 17 using a dotted line. 

Next plot the accuracy-records. For the sake of convenience 
consider each error equivalent to a second in time and plot ac- 
cordingly. Finally plot a third curve obtained by adding 
together the seconds taken to do the trials with the number of 
errors. This curve will represent the course of learning, taking 
into account both time and accuracy combined. 

Both partners will write up the report according to the outline 
given in Lesson 4. The Results will include the material (data) 
gathered together during the experiment and also the three 
learning curves. 

Interpretation. — Under this heading note answers to the 
following questions: 

1. What changes take place when the same performance is re- 
peated a number of times? Consider (a) speed, (h) accuracy, 
and (c) the two combined. 

2. What light do the data secured when the mirror is not used 
throw upon the main results of this experiment? In other words, 
how efficiently do you suppose the Subject could come to do the 
mirror-drawing after a great deal of practice? 



44 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

Applications.^ — -Do not fail to report some concrete examples of 
how the principles discovered in the experiment can be applied 
to your own work. 

Notes: (1) The word "data" is plural always. 

(2) As you are studying the learning process it is absolutely 
essential that S shall not practice in any way whatever between trials, else 
your data will not be complete. If a trial is performed and the time-record 
is lost, report this fact. For example, if the time-record for the 12th trial 
was lost, call it nevertheless the 12th trial, and the next trial the 13th. In 
plotting, simply connect the 11th and 13th records with a dotted line, to 
indicate that the 12th record is missing. 



LESSON 7 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LEARNING 
PROCESS 

Answers to the Questions in Lesson 6 

What changes take place when the same performance is 
repeated a number of times? Consider (a) speed, (b) accuracy, 
and (c) the two combined. 

The first drawing with the right hand in the mirror was done 
very slowly and with many mistakes. The second drawing was 
very much better, there being a noticeable decrease both in the 
time consumed and the number of mistakes made. With each 
subsequent trial there was improvement (barring certain excep- 
tions) until with the last trial we have a drawing made in very 
much less time and with few errors. In Plate IV we have three 
learning curves showing 20 trials (not 15) and based on the 
average of 18 records from men and women. Both curves A 
(accuracy) and B (speed) show rapid improvement at the start 
with smaller and smaller gains as the practice continues. The 
combined curve (C) shows the same peculiarities. 

From studying curves B and C it is apparent that if these 18 
individuals had continued the practice for more than 20 trials 
they would have improved still more. Curve A, on the other 
hand, suggests that they had reached their limit in accuracy; in 
fact, that they had reached this limit by about the 8th trial. 
(Trials 12 and 18 are actually the most accurate.) There is, 
however, another possible explanation. The instruction given 
the individuals whose average data we have before us, was pur- 
posely left indefinite as to whether speed or accuracy should 
be striven for. Their reports show, however, that most 
of them had in mind doing the task as quickly as possible, 
with a fair degree of accuracy, rather than doing the task as 
accurately as possible with a fair degree of speed. Consequently, 
the time curve shows the greater amount of improvement. It 

45 



46 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



is extremely likely then that the accuracy shown in Curve A 
from the 8th to 20th trials represents to these individuals "a 




Plate IV. — Curves showing progress of learning to draw while looking in a 

mirror. 
Curve A records errors made per trial. Curve B records time (in seconds) 
consumed per trial. Curve C records total errors and seconds per trial. 

fair degree of accuracy" — that during those trials there was 
little or no attempt to improve their accuracy. If this be true, 
further practice would eventually bring each subject to a point 



7 CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING PROCESS 47 

where he would reahze that his accuracy-record was not so good 
as it might be as compared with his time-record. His general 
attitude toward the work would change then so that he would 
strive for accuracy in a way that he had not done previously. 
Following this change in attitude there would undoubtedly 
appear a series of drops in the accuracy-curve with possibly little 
or no improvement in the time-curve. Judging then from what 
we can learn from the observations of our subjects, they have 
not reached their limit of improvement in accuracy, but rather 
only a temporary limit, this temporary limit being due to their 
attitude toward the work. 

Such temporary limits are called plateaus or level places in a 
learning curve. In terms of what little we now know from this 
course about plateaus, we may define them as "temporary limits 
to improvement." In terms of our three components Situation, 
Bond, and Response, we may say that certain details in the situation 
are not affecting the learner as they should. Because they are 
not, there is Kttle or no response to them and hence no improve- 
ment in the bonds connecting those details in the situation with 
their appropriate details in the response. Later these details 
commence to affect the learner, the bonds between those details 
and their responses commence to be used and improvement 
follows. At least this was apparently the case here. The little 
irregularities in the drawn line together with various memories 
which make up our notion of accuracy, all these were not affecting 
the learner so strongly as they might. As these details were being 
reacted to only a little or not at all there was little or no chance 
for the bonds to be developed. Later these same details would 
commence to affect the learner and then there would come 
improvement in accuracy. We shall then need to add to our 
previous conceptions of a learning curve — rapid improvement 
at first with less and less improvement as time goes on — this 
notion of a plateau. Improvement may cease entirely, certainly 
as far as objective proof is concerned, for a period of time and 
then commence again. 

The plateau may be looked upon as a peculiar kind of fluctua- 
tion or deviation from the true course of learning. It is a devia- 
tion which extends over a number of trials. The most common 
form of deviation is that which occurs very frequently in prac- 
tically all learning curves and consists in sudden up or down 



48 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

deviations from the general trend of the curve. In Plate IV, 
Curve A, we have such downward fluctuations at the 8th, 12th, 
14th, etc., trials, and an upward fluctuation at the 7th trial. 
But these fluctuations are much less frequent and much less 
prominent in Plate IV than they are in curves plotted from the 
data of just one individual. These fluctuations from trial to 
trial have already been referred to in Lesson 5, where an explana- 
tion of their cause is given. 

What light do the data secured when the mirror is not used 
throw upon the main result of this experiment? 

The data secured when the mirror is not used give us a clear 
idea of just how fast and accurately the subject can do the draw- 
ing without the mirror. The efficiency shown measures the 
strength of the old bonds formed in drawing, writing, etc., which 
function here. There is no reason to suppose that with sufficient 
practice the subject could not reach this efficiency under the new 
experimental condition. These data then give us some idea of 
the possible limit to the learning curve obtained in our twenty 
trials. But it is true that further practice without the mirror 
would lead one to draw the star in less time and more accurately. 
Consequently even this determination obtained without the 
mirror is not low enough for the final limit that might be reached 
by a vast amount of practice in the mirror. The final limit that 
an individual might reach with unlimited practice is called the 
phijsiological limit to the learning. It means that the physiolog- 
ical processes involved in the performance require a certain 
time and that when one reaches this limit one cannot progress 
further. It is extremely unlikely that the ordinary individual 
ever reaches his physiological limit in more than a very few simple 
processes which he has practiced vigorously a great many times. 
In most things we are very far from the limit. The world's 
record of 9^^ seconds for the 100 yard dash represents the phys- 
iological limit of the best sprinter. Few, however, have ever 
reached their limit in this performance. 

The plateau, referred to above, may be thought of, then, as 
a temporary limit in distinction to the physiological limit which is 
the final permanent limit of progress. 

What applications can you make of the principles you have 
discovered to your own work? 

One of the greatest needs today in our educational work is to 



7 CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING PROCESS 49 

provide adequate means of registering the daily iniprovemcnt of 
the students. If one can see himself improving he becomes very 
much interested and consequently does very much better work. 
The use of such curves as employed here enables a child not only 
to race against others but to race against himself. If he loafs, 
his curve shows it very clearly; if he wprks very hard, the curve 
registers that fact. Ordinarily only the superior children can 
obtain the thrill of winning in a scholastic race as school work 
is usually administered. But with the use of learning curves a 
dull child at the bottom of the class may experience the feeling 
of victory when he sees his curve rise. The presence or absence 
of a feeling of confidence in oneself may account for many of the 
successes or failures in life. 

As an example of just how a learning curve may be used to 
great advantage the following case supplied by Martha Carroll is 
of interest. 

"After a year and a half of unsuccessful attempts to stimulate 
anything worthy of the name of effort in an eleven year old boy 
pupil, I decided to make an attempt at a learning curve of some 
sort. The subject being music (and violin at that) it seemed 
almost an impossibility to figure out a method by which a record 
might be kept and exact progress noted. As an exact record of 
progress made, the curve (see Plate V) is a failure, but it accom- 
plished its purpose of stimulating an effort. 

"The lessons were 45 minute periods once a week — 30 minutes 
being devoted (approximately) to the lesson assigned the previous 
week and 15 minutes to the new lesson. The record was kept 
during the period of assigned lesson only, any errors in the new 
lesson being left uncounted. 

"The understanding with the pupil was, that for every cor- 
rection I must make during the 30 minute period a mark would be 
made — these marks to be counted and stand for the grade at the 
end of the lesson. It was also agreed that no error noticed, and 
corrected by the pupil should be counted against him. The 
errors were to include those of position, intonation and rhythm — 
accuracy being the sole end in view. 

"At the first lesson where the record was kept I made 40 correc- 
tions during the 30 minutes. For the first time, the child became 
aware of the fact that he did not 'know everything about it,' and 
that he was not 'doing it right. ' He became intensely interested. 



50 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



and from then on watched hke a hawk every mark made against 
him and was very soon seeing his own mistakes and correcting 
them before I had a chance to do so. 

"The first record was made on Feb. 22, 1916, and on May 23, 
1916, the final record was made; the score having been reduced 
from 40 errors to 5 at the .lowest record — and closing with a score 




Plate V. — Curve showing progress in eliminating errors in learning to play the 

violin. 



of 10 errors. That the actual amount of progress made is not 
evident, may be seen from the fact that at the time of the last 
record fully 3 1-3 times as much ground was covered in the 30 
minutes as at the time of the first record, thus reducing consider- 
ably the percentage of errors at the final record. 

"The change was entirely one of attitude, for the amount of 
actual practice time spent between lessons was not increased. 



7 CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING PROCESS 51 

"The sudden rise in the curve at the ninth record I attribute to 
a return of the original attitude of selfysatisfaction."^ 

Knowledge as to how fast a child of a certain age could possibly 
add columns of figures (physiological limit) would be helpful in 
handling him, especially when his work shows that he is on a 
plateau. By this we do not mean that our ideal is to have a 
child even approximately attain his physiological limit. Far 
from it. But it would help keep us from fearing to overstrain 
the boy when what he needs is to be urged to do his best. 

Kate Anthony reports a case of an exceedingly bright boy who 
was but 9 years old but had been advanced to the 6th Grade. 
He stood at the head of his class in all matters of originality, 
initiative, and clear thinking but near the bottom in speed of 
handwriting, in drawing, and manual work. She believed his 
inability to do these latter performances as well as the average 
member of the class was due to his immaturity. An 11 or 12 year 
old boy is physically stronger and more dexterous than a 9 year 
old boy, just because he is two or three years older. And this 
difference is great enough so that a 9 year old bright boy is 
seriously handicapped in competing with an average 12 year old. 
If Anthony's conception is correct, i. e., that her 9 year old boy 
was doing poor work in manual training just because he was too 
young, then there was no need of worry about his poor performance. 
He was doing as well as could be expected of a 9 year old, although 
it was not 6th Grade work. But if she is wrong and he did poor 
work because he was not interested or not gifted along these lines, 
then extra effort should be put forth to get him to do better. An 
exact knowledge of what different aged boys could do and what 
they naturally do in manual training would help her here in 
determining how to handle him. 

Mary McGahey found it impossible to improve Carl's arith- 
metic work as to ^peed. He was a 6th Grade pupil and did good 
work but did not solve simple arithmetical problems as fast as he 
should. The fact that McGahey knew that his rate of work was 
much below what an average boy could do made her realize 
that Carl was on a plateau which was far from being his physio- 

1 A very good example of how such methods have been utiUzed in indus- 
trial work is recorded by R. B. Wolf in The Creative Workman, published by 
the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry. See also, J. Q. 
O'Brien, Silent Reading, 1921, for extensive use of this device in teaching. 



52 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

logical limit. This made her realize that something was wrong 
and that it "was up to her" to find it. Finally she noticed that 
he tapped twice before commencing to solve the simple combina- 
tions as 

4 8 7 4 

2 , 3 , 1 , 0, etc. On calling his attention to the matter 

and then reproving him every time he did tap, she quickly broke 
him of the habit. As a result he increased his rate of work 
50% in a few hours' time. If McGahey had not known (1) 
what a child of Carl's age ought to do and (2) that he was 
making no progress, she would probably have never discovered, 
the tapping and so never have trained him to do arithmetic 
problems at an efficient rate. (The tapping is undoubtedly a 
survival of an earlier habit of counting by making dashes on 
paper, instead of with one's fingers. Apparently Carl on finish- 

4 
ing writing 6 as the answer of 2 had to tap twice before com- 

8 
mencing to think what 3 meant. Under such a method he had 

pretty nearly reached his physiological limit. When the tap- 
ping was eliminated he was able to think the answer 11 to 
8 
3 while writing the 6 and so could write continuously the answers 

to these problems, working out the answers ahead of where he was 
writing.) ^ 

In Plates VI and VII are given the learning curves of four chil- 
dren (C, D, G, and H) when tested with simple addition and 
multiplication combinations. (The test blanks are shown on 
pages 152 and 153.) The records show how many combina- 
tions were performed correctly in one minute on fifteen different 
days. C gained twelve problems in addition in eight days and 
D the same number in five days, both completing the blank of 
eighty combinations in two minutes. G, on the other hand, 

^ Kate Anthony, Mary L. McGahey, Edward K. Strong, Jr. The Develop- 
ment of Proper Attitudes Toward School Work. School and Society, Dec. 25, 
1915, p. 926ff. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING PROCESS 



53 



gained but two problems in fifteen days and H none in the same 
time. In multiplication C gained twenty-four problems; D, 
twenty-four problems (in fourteen days), G, nine problems, and 
H, sixteen problems. 



Htltur <t frtHtmi Cornet 




Plate VI. 



-Learning curves of C and D in simple addition (shown by the solid 
line) and multiplication (shown by the broken line). 



Learning curves such as produced by C and D are typical of 
bright capable children while those curves produced by G and H 
are typical of children who stand near the bottom of their class. 
The curves of G are the poorest from the point of initial score or 
slope. This child never belonged in the 4th Grade and so 
dropped out of the school as there was no room for him in the 



54 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



3rd Grade. His curves show markedly inferior knowledge of 
addition and multiplication and that he cannot learn rapidly. 
In fact he learns more slowly than other children in the same 
grade. There is then no chance of his catching up with his class. 
Instead he is going to be left farther and farther behind. 

10 




Plate VII. — Learning curves of G and H in simple addition (shown by the solid 
line) and multiplication (shown by the broken line). 

H's addition curve is very striking and unusual. As she 
improved in multiplication she lost in addition. In this instance 
there was a clear case of interference, i. e., the habit of "seeing 
4X3 and thinking 12" was interfering with the habit of "seeing 
4 + 3 and thinking 7." She continued in this condition for 
some time afterwards. Later in the year she was put through 



7 CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING PROCESS 55 

another practice series. The addition again showed an interfer- 
ence effect from the miiltipHcation. In time she overcame this 
interference and eventually after three months of individual drill 
reached a speed of 40 problems in one minute in both addition 
and multiplication and a good speed in subtraction and column 
addition. But she has shown no ability to solve ordinary prob- 
lems in arithmetic. A year later she was given these tests 
again. Her records were excellent, showing she had retained 
most of what she had learned. But her performance in more 
complicated arithmetic work was extremely poor. She never 
succeeded in solving problems requiring any original thinking. 



LESSON 8 

RELATIONSHIP OF METHOD, ATTITUDE AND FEEL- 
ING TO LEARNING 

Some of the more obvious laws of learning have been presented. 
We are now ready to attempt a more careful study of less appar- 
ent factors. 

What happens when we change our method of doing a certain 
task — say of playing golf, of going from the sight to touch method 
in typewriting, or discovering a new way to solve originals 
in geometry? Do our feelings affect our work? We think 
they do: but do they really do so? Does the man that is confi- 
dent do better than the man that is fearful? If so, why? 
Mirror-drawing Experiment (repeated) 

Problem. — What factors are involved in learning Mirror- 
Drawing? 

Apparatus. — Mirror-Drawing Outfit; 10 six-pointed star blanks; 
watch. 

Procedure. — E should here be the S of the 6th class-hour and 
S the E of that exercise. Follow the general procedure of the 
6th class-hour, but here S should only draw with the right hand 
in the mirror. 

The emphasis is not upon completing 10 drawings hut upon 
obtaining as detailed an idea of how one learns as is possible. 
Consequently after each drawing, S should note down every fact 
that occurs to him regarding his method of doing the work, the 
ideas that came to him while doing the drawing, his attitude 
toward the work, his feelings, etc. E should also record changes 
in method which he notes in S, changes in feeling or attitude 
toward the work, etc. Note down, for example, every sigh or 
exclamation of impatience, and ascertain if there is any relation 
between its occurrence and success or failure. 

Results. — E should have recorded, (1) the time of each per- 
formance, (2) the number of errors in each drawing, and (3) 
the observations of both S and E accompanying each performance. 

56 



8 METHOD, ATTITUDE AND FEELING 57 

J )raw three curves as in the 6th class-hour experiment. 

Questions. — (1) What changes take place when the same 
performance is repeated a number of times? Consider (a) 
differences in method or "mode of attack," (6) differences in 
attitude toward the work, (c) differences in feeling and emotion. 

2. How do such changes affect the changes in speed and 
accuracy? 

3. How are improvements hit upon? Were they (a) acci- 
dental, (6) partly understood, or (c) thoroughly understood 
beforehand? 

Applications. — What applications can you make of the laws 
you have discovered here to your work? 

Write up this experiment and hand it in at the next class-hour. 



LESSON 9 

RELATIONSHIP OF METHOD, ATTITUDE AND FEEL- 
ING TO LEARNING (continued) 

What Changes Take Place When the Same Performance 
IS Repeated a Number of Times 

Method or "Mode of Attack." — There are a number of differ- 
ent methods of doing the mirror-drawing. Most intUviduals 
learn through trying this thing and then that. Here and there is 
an individual who utilizes his knowledge of physics and figures 
out how his movements should be made. But in even these 
cases there is considerable of the "try this, try that" perform- 
ance. Then again, most individuals direct the movement very 
largely by the eye. But occasionally an individual initiates each 
new movement in terms of the relationship of his pencil to his 
little finger. If he desires to move toward his little finger (de- 
termined through vision) he then moves his forefinger and thumb 
toward his little finger^ — the guidance being in terms of finger- 
movements, not in terms of vision. The eye is used in this case 
simply to record the general direction desired and to guide the 
pencil between the two red lines. 

As practice continues the individual may steadily improve on 
the details of his procedure or he may from time to time try 
other methods. In the latter case he may return to his first 
method or he may abandon it entirely. There is no general 
rule to be laid down as to the course of these changes. Each 
individual should, however, endeavor to ascertain as accurately 
as he may just what changes did take place in his own case. 

Attitude toward the Work. — Ruger^ calls attention to three 
different general attitudes toward one's work. He calls them 
(1) the self-attentive attitude, (2) the suggestible attitude, and 
(3) the problem attitude. 

The self-attentive attitude is illustrated by him by this extract 

' H. A. Ruger, The Psychology of Efficiency, 1910, p. 36ff. 

59 



60 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

from a man's account of how he solved a puzzle. "It seemed to 
me that if anybody had given it to me without saying that it was 
a puzzle (a bona fide one) I would have said it was impossible up 
to the last minute. I have a feeling now of loss of esteem. I 
had this all along because I couldn't do something which was 
made for people with ordinary brains to do. One conclusion 
that kept running through my mind all the time was that I had a 
subordinate mind. I couldn't help having a gleeful, self-satisfied 
feeling when it actually seemed to be coming off, although it was 
a surprise." 

Individuals possessed with this self-attentive attitude expressed 
themselves as being afraid that the experimenter was getting 
bored because they were slow, or that he would think them 
extremely stupid, etc. The principal thing, then, that occupied 
the minds of people with this attitude was the concern as to their 
general fitness and as to what others would think of them. 

The Suggestible Attitude. — Ruger says, "In two of the men 
there seemed to be a special sensitiveness toward any movements 
of the operator which might give an indication as to the course 
to be pursued. In such cases as this there is a lack of confidence 
in the self but the attention is directed not to the self but to some 
other person. The center of gravity, if one may so describe it, 
of the responsibility is located elsewhere and the suggestions, 
intentional or unintentional, of the other person or persons con- 
cerned are accepted uncritically. This tendency was noted by 
the writer in his own case in novel situations of a more distinctly 
social type, such as business transactions of an unaccustomed 
sort, or other similar cases where persons instead of things were 
to be dealt with and where the other person was felt to have 
superior information as to the matter in hand and the self to be 
deficient." 

Probably all have experienced this attitude when attempting to 
do something new while in the presence of others. This is 
particularly true when those present are known to know more 
about the task than oneself. Their presence bothers us; very 
often we make mistakes that we know we would not make if we 
had been alone. Here our attention is directed even more 
toward those who are present than to the work before us. And at 
such times we are especially susceptible to any indications from 
these persons as to whether we are doing well or poorly. 



9 METHOD, ATTITUDE AND FEELING (CONTINUED) 61 

The Problem Attitude. — "In contradistinction to these two 
attitudes, which are certainly not favorable to efficiency," this 
third attitude is essentially an attitude of self-confidence. "The 
self-confidence is not one of sluggish complacency, however, but 
is expressed in a high level of intellectual activity, of attention. 
Attention would be directed to the thing to be done rather than 
to appraisal of the self." 

In this particular experiment undoubtedly most subjects had 
somewhat of the self-attentive attitude, or the suggestible atti- 
tude, or both to start with. And as practice continued the 
earlier attitude faded out more and more and the problem attitude 
took its place. Occasionally a subject displays only the problem 
attitude throughout the practice period. And occasionally 
also a subject continues to show the self-attentive attitude 
throughout, but this is rather rare. Usually there is a noticeable 
change toward the adoption of the problem attitude. 

Some of the factors that bring about this change in attitude are 
the realization that one is improving, that one can do the task, 
that another is doing it successfully, etc. But sometimes the 
latter factor reacts in just the opposite way. Later on in this 
course, we shall return to this subject of attitude towards one's 
work, and endeavor to discover the causes of these attitudes and 
the ways in which the third attitude may be substituted for the 
first two. In t*he meantime accumulate what information you 
can on the subject, as it is undoubtedly one of the biggest problems 
a real teacher has to face — the problem of making boys and girls 
and men and women really self-confident about their work. 

Feeling. — Feeling is technically either 'pleasant or unpleasant. 
Besides these two aspects of feeling there are the emotions of 
fear, hate, love, anger, etc. It is not likely that a real emotion 
is aroused in this experiment, except that of anger, and only then 
in the case of a few individuals. 

During the first few trials the work did not go smoothly. One 
realized that he took altogether too much time in doing the 
drawing and that there were too many mistakes. Continued 
failure to accomplish what is desired always is accompanied by 
an unpleasant feeling. If this is continued too long anger will 
arise. But as the practice progressed, the work became easier, 
fewer mistakes were made, and the whole drawing took less 
time. With each improvement there came less and less of 



62 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

unpleasantness and more and more of pleasantness. So after 
a time the original feeling of unpleasantness changed over to 
pleasantness. Then one was really interested in the task. 

As practice is continued, however, the improvement becomes 
less and less (refer again to Plates I and IV). The novelty of the 
task disappears, and thoughts come to mind of more interesting 
or of more valuable performances that one might be doing if it 
weren't for this required task. The inability to carry out these 
performances because of the mirror-drawing may then bring 
again into consciousness unpleasant feelings. Whether one does 
then change from a pleasant to an unpleasant feeling-attitude 
toward the task at the close of the experiment will depend on the 
interplay of the pleasantness associated with the continued 
improvement versus the unpleasantness due to physical fatigue, 
inability to do other things, etc. 

Even if one does thus swing from unpleasantness to pleasant- 
ness, and then back to unpleasantness again, one is very apt to 
discover that the last two or three trials bring pleasantness again 
to mind. Especially is this true of the last trial. 

(Are these changes in feeling typical of all learning? If so, to 
what extent should a teacher pay attention to them as shown in 
his students? How might the second change from pleasantness 
to unpleasantness be avoided? If these changes are not typical 
of all learning, how do they differ here from other examples of 
learning?) 



How Do Changes in Method, Attitude or Feeling Affect 
THE Changes in Speed and Accuracy? 

It is pretty clear that the changes in speed and accuracy pro- 
duce very profound changes in method, attitude, and feeling. 
It is a fair question to ask, on the other hand, if the latter changes 
affect speed and accuracy. If they do not, it is immaterial 
whether the learner has a self-attentive attitude or a problem 
attitude, whether he is in a pleasant or unpleasant mood. 

Changes in method profoundly affect speed and accuracy. 
Even such slight changes as from clutching the pencil as if life 
depended on it to holding it naturally result in less fatigue and 
consequently in smoother lines and less unpleasantness, When 



9 METHOD, ATTITUDE AND FEELING (CONTINUED) 63 

careful notes are kept it is often very easy to see that with a 
change in method there has come decided changes in speed or 
accuracy. In fact from a study of the time-curve and the accu- 
racy-curve one may often be able to check up the introspections 
(an introspection is technically an observation of one's own 
mental processes) of the subject as to just when he commenced 
to emphasize one of these elements more and the other less. 

From our analysis of the three attitudes one may have toward 
his work, it is clear that one is reacting in the first two cases not 
only to the details of the mirror-drawing itself but to other 
details which have nothing to do with the task in hand — details 
such as one's feelings, one's estimate of himself, the movements 
of the experimenter, etc. As one can only be affected by a 
certain number of details, the elimination of these useless details 
may make it possible for another detail in the mirror-drawing 
task to affect one. If this new detail is the one that must be 
reacted to before further progress may be made, then the change 
in attitude may bring about an improvement not otherwise 
possible. This is just what we all have noticed many times. 
Worry, excitement, thoughts of ourselves and others prevent 
the really important details for the solution of our work from 
coming into play. The problem attitude represents then that 
attitude under which we are less affected by unimportant details. 
The other two attitudes represent conditions of work when certain 
unimportant details are being reacted to and necessarily other 
important attitudes are not being reacted to. 

How ARE Improvements Hit upon? Are They (A) 
Accidental, (B) Partly Understood, or (C) Thor- 
oughly Understood? 

Observations from different individuals vary greatly upon this 
subject. One individual may proceed very slowly and observe 
very carefully what is to be done and just what he is doing and 
slowly develop the proper method for doing the experiment. In 
his case there will be a noticeable number of "planned out" 
movements. Another individual may make no "planned" 
movements at all, at least as far as he is able to report the matter. 
All that such an individual is aware of is that he kept trying first 
one way, then another, in apparently a very aimless sort of way 



64 INTRODUCTORY TSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

and that as time went on he came to reahze that he was doing 
better and better. Moreover, from time to time he also came to 
reahze that he was doing this particular part of the work in this 
particular sort of a way. For example, that when from the 
mirror it seemed as though he should move his hand away from 
his body he then moved his hand toward his body. But the 
significant part of this discovery lies in the fact that he was 
already more or less successfully making this movement toward 
his body when it looked as though he should move the hand 
away from him before he was conscious of the matter. That is, 
the improvement was hit upon apparently accidentally and later 
it became understood. (A few paragraphs below we shall come 
to see that the improvement was not hit upon accidentally, but 
was the true resultant of what had gone before, but for the present 
we may think of it as accidental.) 

The types of learning illustrated by these two individuals 
appear at first hand to be very different. The first individual 
plans out his work, the second hits upon it "accidentally." 
In one sense they are very different. The former represents the 
highest type of human learning, whereas the latter represents 
the lowest type — a type common to both human beings and to 
animals. But when these two are carefully studied we discover 
that they only differ in degree, not in kind. Although it is 
true that the first individual "planned" out some of his methods 
and movements, yet he did not plan out all of them. Many of 
them, usually the great majority of them, he first unconsciously 
learned how to do and then later discovered that he was doing 
them. We shall want to characterize the learning of these two 
typical individuals by saying that the second unconsciously 
learned nearly or entirely all that he did and later became aware 
of part of what he was doing, whereas the first consciously planned 
out a few of his movements before starting to do them while 
learning the rest in the same way that the second individual 
acquired his. 

Learning to do a task similar to mirror-drawing is largely 
characterized by the unconscious development of movements 
which, after they have become fairly well established, are likely 
to become consciously noticed. Such learning has been called 
trial and error learning. The expression is not a good one, but it 
has been widely used by writers on this subject. The essential 



9 METHOD, ATTITUDE AND FEELING (CONTINUED) G5 

characteristic of this sort of learning is that we do not have at 
hand a suitable movement (response) to the situation. In 
terms of situation, bond and response, there is no bond existing 
between the situation confronting the learner and the correct 
response. For example, at point 3 on the star-blank one must 
proceed towards 4 (situation) . To do so one must make certain 
movements (response.) In order to do so the situation and the 
response must be connected by a bond. Such bonds cannot be 
formed voluntarily. The only way open is to try one movement 
after another until the right .movement is hit upon. Every 
time an improper movement is tried it is checked immediately 
since it leads the pencil in a wrong direction. On the other hand, 
every time the correct movement is tried it is not checked but 
allowed to continue. In this way eventually the situation is 
tied up with the correct response, inasmuch as the bond connect- 
ing the two has been used more than any other. The selection of 
this correct movement is not consciously done. It becomes con- 
sciously known only after it is fairly well developed. 

This type of learning might be illustrated roughly in this way. 
Suppose P and Q, who is blindfolded, are standing in the middle 
of a recently harrowed field, or one covered with snow. P 
determines just to which part of the field he wants Q to go but 
he doesn't tell him. Q is to discover this point by keeping walk- 
ing, agreeing to change his direction whenever P calls out 
"change" and to keep going when P says nothing. Now when 
Q starts he is as likely to go one way .as another. The conse- 
quence is that he will start a number of times and because they 
are wrong P will so signal and Q will stop and start again. The 
snow about the starting point will become all trampled because 
of these starts and stops. But presently Q will hit upon the 
correct direction, P will no longer signal to stop and Q will con- 
tinue in the desired direction. If he walks in a straight line he 
will presently reach the desired point. If he doesn't P will signal 
to change and Q will then make a few stops and starts, finally 
hitting on the correct direction again. In this way Q will 
finally reach the desired point. He has reached it through 
starting many incorrect movements which were immediately 
checked and then continuing the correct movement whenever 
hit upon. Now suppose P and Q start over again. The process 
will l)e largely the same as before. But as it will be easier walking 



66 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

wherever Q has traveled before, Q will be much more likely to 
continue in old paths than to make new ones. And as the correct 
direction is the only one that continues for any distance Q will 
be aided by it much more than by the little short paths that lead 
in the wrong direction. Still on the second trial Q's guidance 
will come essentially from P's signals. As P and Q keep up this 
stunt, the correct path will become better and better formed and 
Q will gradually come to rely on it more and more and to need 




P's signals less and less. After a certain number of trials it is 
likely that Q could traverse the distance with no mistakes, 
utilizing the well-worn pathway as a guide instead of the signals 
of P. 

All learning consists in forming a new situation-bond-response 
combination. In forming such a new combination we must start 
with some already formed combinations as a starting point. In 
the case of drawing line 1-2 in the mirror we start with the com- 
bination of situation (direction toward one) and response (move- 
ment of hand toward body) , indicated in the diagram by S 1 and R 1 . 
But the response Rl is incorrect. Many other movements (R2- 
R8) are attempted. Each is checked immediately. Finally 
movement R9 (which is to move hand away from body) is com- 
menced; it is not checked, and so is continued until 2 is reached. 
The old customary habit, situation (direction toward one ) 
response (movement of hand toward body) has thus been modi- 
fied so that we now have a new habit, i. e., situation (direction 
toward one) response (movement of hand away from body). 
R9 has been substituted for Rl as the response to SI. After a 
number of stars have been drawn this new habit will then com- 
mence to function efficiently. It will do so because the bond 
connecting SI and R9 has reached a certain degree of strength. 



9 METHOD, ATTITUDE AND FEELING (CONTINUED) G7 

Why should the nervous current discharge over the pathway 
to Ri, then to R2, etc., instead of continuing to discharge over Ri? 
There are two explanations. First, it seems that after the dis- 
charge of current over a pathway there is required a very short 
interval of time before the nerve cells are in condition to discharge 
energy again. This factor accordingly tends to divert the current 
to some other pathway than the one just active. And second, 
when the discharge does not produce the desired response, when 
there is a blocking of a discharge in any way, an increased amount 
of current is released. This phenomenon is called overflow of 
energy. This is easily demonstrated when one tries to solve a 
puzzle— one becomes more and more excited and exasperated 
as repeated attempts fail. One sees the same thing illus- 
trated in mowing the lawn. When the lawn mower is jammed, 
one pushes and pushes, rather than stops and cleans out the stick 
or clump of grass from between the knife-edges. Only when the 
pushing fails does one resort to the rationally more sensible 
procedure. It is very likely that this is largely responsible for the 
formation of the new bond, for the excess energy discharges over 
all manner of pathways, including those of very high resistance, 
and so operates to make them more easily used next time. 

The reason we "hit upon" the proper movements "accident- 
ally" and later become conscious of them is apparently that until 
a bond has reached a certain degree of strength we are not capable 
of being aware of it. When it finally has reached this degree of 
strength through use, we then suddenly realize just what we are 
doing. In terms of the snow field scene Q will not at first notice 
that he follows his former footsteps in preference to walking 
through unbroken snow. After a time, however, the difference 
in ease of walking along a path as compared with walking through 
the snow is forced upon him. After that he is as much influenced 
by this detail of the situation as by P's signals. And in the 
mirror-drawing experiment the subject at first doesn't know how 
he gets from point 1 to 2. After a time, however, he realizes that 
to go to 2 from 1 you move in the opposite direction from what 
you want to, or he may not reach such a generalization but tell 
you that he disregards what he sees and allows his fingers to 
guide the movement. In the first case he has clearly in mind 
what he is doing. In the latter he is more in the stage of Q 
when he has just commenced to pay attention to the feeling of 



68 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

path versus no path without thinking particularly about the 
meaning of this difference. 

Let us return now to the original question: — "How are 
improvements hit upon? Were they (a) accidental, (b) partly 
understood, or (c) thoroughly understood?" Fundamentally we 
have in such a type of problem as this mirror-drawing experiment 
a case where an old situation-bond-response combination is 
modified so as to give us a new response to the same situation. 
Whenever the response is changed there results movements 
more or less of the "trial and error" type, i. e., the starting of 
many incorrect movements which are immediately checked and 
the final development of the correct movement through its being 
allowed to continue. In all such cases the correct movement will 
be "hit upon" just as "accidentally" as are any of the incorrect 
movements. Its first use is "accidental." Its second, third, 
fourth, etc., uses are also accidental. But eventually the bond 
connecting the situation and the new response reaches a certain 
degree of strength and the process becomes a conscious one. 
The normal thing is for improvements to be hit upon first and 
later to become consciously known. 

But there are cases where we do consciously plan out the move- 
ment before we commence making any movements at all. These 
are cases which we shall study more intensively later under the 
headings of reasoning and transfer of training. It is sufficient 
now to say that in these cases the subject has experienced some- 
where else in life some situation similar to the one now confront- 
ing him and that he now makes use of some of that experience in 
this case. For example, a subject who has previously studied 
physics may have learned the principle that vertical lines are 
inverted as they appear in a mirror but not horizontal lines. 
This principle may have been connected up as a response to the 
situation "mirror." Now when confronted with the mirror in 
this experiment, the mirror detail of the whole situation in the 
experiment calls to mind the physical law. The law then becomes 
an added detail to this subject's entire situation. He acts in 
terms not only of the situation as other subjects perceive it but 
also in terms of this detail — the physical law. And acting in 
terms of the law he has little or no trouble with the vertical and 
horizontal lines in the experiment. This statement must be 
modified somewhat, however. It is true he will have less trouble 



9 METHOD, ATTITUDIO AND FEELING (CONTINUED) 69 

than the average individual if he has in mind the physical law. 
But he will have still considerable trouble, unless in his physics 
course or somewhere else he has actually drawn objects as seen in 
a mirror. When one must make a new movement in response 
to a situation one can only learn to make it by doing it and this 
doing involves "trial and error." If he has not had this experi- 
ence, he will profit by knowing the law because he will much more 
quickly check the wrong movements since he will have a guide in 
not only what is seen but also in what is felt in the hands. Know- 
ing that he must move his hands away from him in going from 
1 to 2, he will feel in his hands that he is going wrong as soon as he 
moves in any other way. 

REFERENCES 

On The Mirror-drawing Experiment 

D. Starch, A Demonstration of the Trial and Error Method in Learning. 
Psychol. Bull, Jan. 1910, p. 20 ff. 

G. M. Whipple, Manual of Mental and Physical Tests, 1915, Vol. II, 
p. 485ff. 

On The Learning Process 

Bryan and Harter, Studies in the Physiology and Psychology of the 
Telegraphic Language. Psxjchol. Rev., 1897 and 1899, IV. p. 27ff and VI. 
p. 345ff. 

W. F. Book, The Psychology of Skill, 1908. 

H. A. Ruger, The Psychology of Efficiency, Archives of Psychology, 
No. 15, 1910. Note especially p. 36ff. 

Ladd & Woodworth, Physiological Psychology, 1911, Part II, Chapter VIII. 

E. L. T\xovnd\ke, Educational Psychology, IQIZ. Vol.11. 



LESSON 10 
HOW DOES ONE LEARN A VOCABULARY? 

Is the learning of a vocabulary an entirely different perform- 
ance from the learning of handwriting? Or are there certain parts 
of each that are more or less similar? What are the processes 
involved in memorizing a vocabulary? Is there a one "best" 
method for all individuals or are there different methods which 
are best adapted to different individuals? 

In this experiment E will pronounce a Spanish word and S will 
be expected to give the English equivalent. If he can't E will 
prompt him and a little later try him again. As the promptings 
continue S will gradually learn the vocabulary. Devote your 
time and ingenuity in this experiment to discovering how S 
learns the pairs of words. In some cases S will frankly not know, 
in other cases he will say the sound suggested the English word, 
in other cases he will have other answers. Endeavor to discover 
as accurately as possible just how S learned each pair. 

A few students, particularly men, take an inordinate amount of 
time to learn their vocabulary. Yet if there were a thousand 
dollars at stake they could do the task in a few minutes. Do not 
allow a wrong attitude to interfere with your work. Get it 
done quickly. 

The Experiment 

Problem. — ^How does one learn a Spanish-English vocabulary? 

Apparatus. — -E receives from the instructor a list of 25 Spanish- 
English words, which S is to commit to memory. (If S knows 
Spanish E should report this fact to the instructor and secure a 
vocabulary in some other language.) 

Procedure. — -(1) E prepares a tally sheet similar to the model 
(Plate VIII) and fills in the list of Spanish and English words to 
be learned. 

2. E supplies S with a list of the Spanish words (but not the 
English words) which S will keep before him as his prompting 
list. 

70 



10 



HOW DOES ONE LEARN A VOCABULARY? 



71 



3. Trial 1. E will read aloud to S the Spanish words and their 
English equivalents at the approximate rate of one pair every 
three seconds. S will follow with his eyes the Spanish words on 
his list during the reading and will endeavor to memorize the 
pairs as they are read. He will not write down the English words. 

This first trial has, of course, 25 promptings since E read to S 
each Spanish word and its English equivalent. Accordingly 
record an "x" in column 1 of the tally sheet opposite each of 
the 25 pairs of words. 

4. Trial 2. S pronounces the first Spanish word on his list and 
attempts to give its English equivalent, (a) If he succeeds, then 
stop until you have written down S's explanation of how he came 
to connect the Spanish and English words together. Record 
these observations in detail because they are the results you are 
especially interested in obtaining in this experiment. When 
this is done S pronounces the second Spanish word and attempts 
to give its English equivalent, etc. 

(6) If S gives an incorrect Enghsh word, write that word in 
column 2 opposite the appropriate Spanish word. Prompt S as 
to what the correct English word is. Then have S pronounce the 
next Spanish word and attempt to give its English equivalent, etc. 



List the 
Spanish words 
in this column 


■ 

List the 
English equiva- 
lents in this 
column 


Tally below in the appropriate columns 

the promptings needed and errors made by 

S in learning the vocabulary 






1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


1. 

2. 
3. 
4. 

etc. 
24. 
25. 




X 
X 
X 
X 

X 
X 






















Total number of promptings 


25 























Plate VIII. — Showing blank to be used by E lor recording promptings and 

mistakes. 



72 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

(c) If S makes no reply within 5 seconds after pronouncing the 
Spanish word, mark an "x" in column 2 opposite the appropriate 
Spanish word and then prompt S as to the correct English word. 
S pronounces the next Spanish word and so continues. 

Repeat the above procedure with each Spanish word in the list. 
In this way you ascertain whether S has learned the English 
equivalent for any of the Spanish words after one prompting 
(your first reading), and if so, how he learned it. And further- 
more, you have a record of (a) how many English equivalents 
were given correctly; (h) how many were given incorrectly; 
(c) in how many cases no reply was made. 

5. Trial 3. Repeat the above procedure for trial 3. Continue 
with trial after trial until S can give correctly the English equiva- 
lent to each of the 25 Spanish words without error and without 
waiting more than 5 seconds in any case. 

6. If you still have time try this additional experiment. After 
S has recited the Spanish-English pairs correctly, have him start 
at the bottom of the list and call out the English equivalents as 
before, reading up the list, instead of down. Continue until S 
can recite the list correctly. What additional light does this 
experiment throw on the whole problem of learning a vocabulary? 

Results. — (1) Count up the number of promptings (the number 
of "x's" plus the number of English words which were incorrectly 
given in each column) and record the totals at the bottom of each 
column. Plot a prompting-curve. 

2. Record all the facts you have marshalled as to how one 
earns a vocabulary. 

Interpretation. — Answer the following questions and give any 
other conclusions of interest here. 

1. How does the learning curve based on promptings compare 
with the learning curves obtained in learning the alphabet and 
mirror-drawing? 

2. In what different ways did S learn the Spanish-English 
pairs of words? What seem to be the general laws underlying 
such learning? Are these laws similar to or different from those 
related to learning mirror-drawing? 

Application.^ — ^How might these methods be cultivated? 
Where else could the same methods be utilized? 

Hand in your write-up of this experiment at the next class- 
hour. 



LESSON 11 

THE LEARNING PROCESS INVOLVED IN COMMITTING 
TO MEMORY A VOCABULARY 

A foreign word may become associated with an English word 
in two different ways. It may be learned through simple repeti- 
tion, or it may be learned through the intermediation of one or 
more steps. Take the case of the German word "hund" and its 
English equivalent "dog." Some individuals will come to 
know that "hund" means "dog" by simple repetition of the 
two words together. Other individuals, when confronted with 
"hund," will think "hound" and then "dog." When the inter- 
mediate step is employed the combination "hund-dog" may be 
learned with one repetition and may then function satisfactorily 
throughout life. When the purely repetitive method is employed 
the combination may only be learned after a number of repetitions 
and even then may not function a few days later. 

Consider a second illustration. The Chinese symbol # stands 
for "a well of water." If one were engaged in committing a 
Chinese-English vocabulary, particularly at the commencement 
of the course in Chinese, it is most likely that the combination 
would be learned according to the first method indicated above — 
through sheer repetition of the two together. However, if one 
was instructed by his teacher, that the symbol # was derived 



originally from 
been gradually 
symbol stood 



and that the four outside lines had 
dropped, and also that the original 
pictorially for a small cluster of 



houses nnn about a common well, then it is quite 
likely Q O Q that one would need but this simple instruction 
(this nnn one repetition) in order to retain for life the 
combination "J^ — well."* 

* The above explanation of the symbol is not technically correct but it is 
the conception that Annie E. Bradshaw used in learning the symbol. The 
correct explanation is recorded here as given by C. W. Luh. It is of interest 
in this connection, as it shows how through associations a term obtains new 

73 



74 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

Learning through Sheer Repetition — Stimulus Sub- 
stitution 
« 
Consider the fundamental process involved in learning "hund- 
dog" through sheer repetition or rote memory. We start with 
the abilities: — 

1. To pronounce "hund" when we see the printed word 
"hund," 

2. To pronounce "dog" when we see the printed word "dog," 

3. To call to mind a considerable number of words after seeing 
the word "dog," such as, "Toby," "animal," four-legs," "white," 
"black," "yellow," "cur," etc. All of these latter combinations 
have been developed through experience and go to make up as a 
complex whole our complex thought "dog." It is quite likely 
when we see the word "dog" and say "dog," that there is a more 
or less simultaneous commencement of the processes to say 
many or all of the others also. 

Such abilities do not impress us as adults. But if we stop to 
think a moment we realize that small children can not do these 
seemingly simple things; hence, we must have learned them at 
some time. 

It may be that we have never pronounced "hund" after 
seeing the word. But we are able to do so because of the exist- 
ence of still simpler abilities which we possess, namely: — 

meanings. This word, "well," is derived from an ancient hieroglyph. 
The square in the middle represents the mouth of the square rail of the well. 
Around it are walls slanting towards the ground. The resemblance is more 
remarkable when we write the word in an older style, like 
The "well system." During the Dynasty of West Chau 
(1122-769 B. C.) the land tax was paid in community labor. 
Each square (about 
nine allotments, like 
land, the products 
ment. Eight families were assigned to the farmsteads around it, and they 
worked on it as they did their own farms. The arrangement of the farms, 
with their fences and pathways looks just like the word (#). So we have 
come to call it the "well system." "For a time, it was a very effective 
method, and the management of these farms became a byword for order 
and cleanliness. So the word became an adjective. In rhetoric we double 
it (# #) and this means 'very orderly.' " 



i^ 



}i sq. mi.) was divided into 
The middle square was public 
of which supported the central govern- 



11 COMMITTING TO MEMORY A VOCABULARY 75 

1. To pronounce "h" when we sec the letter "h," 

2. To pronounce "und" when we see the letters "und," 

3. To connect up the two sounds into one word, i. e., "hund." 

The more we fall back upon these simpler abilities when attempt- 
ing to pronounce "hund" the first time the more slowly and with 
the more hesitancy will we pronounce the word, coupled with an 
increase in speed and confidence with successive trials. That 
this point may be better appreciated, watch yourself master the 
pronunciation of the following words: "handworterbuch," equi- 
librating," "concaturating." 

Having disposed of the problem of pronouncing ''hund" when 
we see the printed word "hund," let us restate what we have to 
start with in the form of a diagram. 

Situation Response 

(1) seeing "hand" > pronouncing "hund" 

(2) seeing "dog" > pronouncing "dog" 

(3) seeing "dog" » thinking "Toby" 

(4) seeing "dog" > thinking "animal" 

etc. 

The problem is to connect the situation (seeing word "hund") 
with the existing responses to "seeing dog," i. e., to connect 
with the first situation in the above table the responses to the 
second, third, fourth, etc., situations. In terms of a diagram the 
problem is to develop the dotted line below: — • 

Situation Response Secondary Rseponse 

seeing "hund" — : >pronouncing "hund" 

seeing "dog" ^^— >pronouncing "dog" -^-__^^^ — >thinking ioby 

thinking "animal" 
thinking "cur" 
N^ etc. 

It is apparent from our experience in the experiment of Lesson 
10 that a new connection or bond, such as indicated by the 
dotted line above, can be developed by mere repetition. 
Expressed in a more general way we have: — 

Situation 1 rrr:^ * Response 1 

Situation 2 ^^-^ Response 2 

with the generalization that repetition of SI — Rl and S2 — R2 




76 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

results in the formation of a new bond SI — RS. (Theoretically, 
two new bonds tend to be formed, i. e., SI — R2 and S2 — Rl. 
Practically, one only is formed. Which one of the two is formed 
depends upon the relative satisfaction to the learner from the 
two different responses.) 

One of the classical experiments illustrating this law was per- 
formed by the Russian psychologist, Pawlow. He rigged up an 
apparatus on a dog to measure the flow of saliva. Then he 
showed the dog a bone and at the same time gave him an electrical 
shock. In diagrammatic form: — 

1. Electrical shock ) 1. Skin withdrawn from contact. 

2. Presence of bone ) 2. Increased flow of saliva. 

After a number of such repetitions, the bone was no longer shown 
and it was found that the saliva flowed in response to the electrical 
shock just as it had originally done in response to seeing the 
bone. The experiment thus demonstrated the development of 
the new bond.^ 

Situation 1, electrical shock — > Response 2, saliva flows. 

In this case R2 (flow of saliva) is more satisfying than Rl (with- 
drawal of skin from contact) and so the connecting SI — R2 
was formed. 

Now in order to be sure that the reader understands not only 
the nature of stiniulus Substitution but also that that is the 
principle of learning underlying what is popularly meant by rote 
memory, let us analyze another case. Suppose one wants to 
memorize ''132 = 169." We have:— 

Situation Response 

seeing "13-" Trrrr:^ saying "thirteen squared" 

seeing "169" ^^saying "one hundred sixty-nine" 

The two original bonds were developed in connection with 
learning to read and to solve arithmetical problems. Through 
repetition the new bond (13^ — 169) is formed. The process is 
stimulus substitution or rote memory. 

1 The term "conditioned reflex" is used in this connection by some writers 
to cover those cases included here under "stimulus substitution." 



11 COMMITTING TO MEMORY A VOCABULARY 77 

Some Corollaries to the Above Law. — (1) If one recites his 
vocabulary in this way: — • 

seeing "der" saying "der" saying "the" 

seeing "hund" saying "hund" saying "dog" 

seeing "haus" saying "haus" saying "house" 

etc., 

he is strengthening not only the new bond (the dotted line in the 
diagrams above) but also the bond of pronouncing the word 
when seen. If he learns his vocabulary by merely looking at 
the foreign word and pronouncing its English equivalent, thus : — 

seeing "der" saying "the" 

seeing "hund" saying "dog" 

seeing "haus" saying "house" 

he is strengthening mainly, if not entirely, the new and desired 
combination. 

But even such a procedure does not lead to the best develop- 
ment of one's vocabulary. It leads simply to the connection of 
"hund" with "dog." If one, on the other hand, should on seeing 
"hund" say "dog," then "animal," "cur," "Toby," etc., he 
would give to the foreign word "hund" the meaning that attaches 
to its English equivalent besides connecting the two together. 

Gordon has demonstrated this in an experiment in which one 
group of students studied an Italian-English vocabulary made 
up of the words in a stanza of a poem. They were permitted 
to study the vocabulary in any way they pleased for half an 
hour. The second group spent this half hour as follows: — (a) 
the poem as a whole was explained, (b) a close translation was 
given them, (c) the poem was read in Italian, (d) the poem was 
read in Italian and translated line by line, (e) the group read 
aloud the poem in Italian, then each member of the group did 
so and gave a translation, (f) the passage was read in Italian 
several times. Both groups were tested at the end of the half 
hour as to their knowledge of the vocabulary, also again a week 
later. The errors made by the two groups were : — 
Test following study. Group I, — 0.58 errors; Group II, — 3.83 
Test a week later. Group I, — 6.30 errors; Group II, — 3.50 
"Thus the words learned in lists have the advantage at first but 
loso it later. In addition to a more permanent learning of the 



78 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

individual words, the second group were able to recite the poem 
very creditably.^ 

All those who have studied a foreign language have realized 
the force of the conclusion in this experiment. Foreign words 
learned as a part of a vocabulary are not learned in the same way 
as the same words when learned during reading. The word 
may be known, for example, in the vocabulary but not understood 
in the text. There are a number of reasons for this besides the 
one suggested above, but let us consider it alone here. The 
foreign word has been connected in the vocabulary lesson with 
an Enghsh equivalent, but it has not necessarily been connected 
with the great wealth of meaning that the English word carries 
with it. The foreign word may call to mind the English word 
but the English word called to mind may not then call to 
mind its meaning since the foreign word is the situation to which 
we are primarily reacting, not the English equivalent. Under 
such a condition of affairs two steps are necessary before we can 
use the foreign word in the translation, (1) think its English 
equivalent, (2) think the English word's meanings. If the 
foreign word had been linked up originally not merely with its 
English equivalent, but also with that word's meanings this 
trouble would not have arisen. The difference between learning 
the meaning of foreign words in vocabularies and in actual read- 
ing or conversation comes down very largely to the psychological 
difference, in the first case of merely connecting the foreign 
word with an English equivalent, and in the second case, of 
connecting the foreign word with the English word's equivalent. 
Meaning can then be thought of as made up of the bonds that 
are attached to a word. The meaning of '' paragraph," or " paral- 
lax," or "parallel " for any person is the sum total of ideas (bonds) 
that these words may arouse. 

All of this applies to teaching the use of new words. "Con- 
densation," "evaporation," "expansion," "protective coloring," 
can be taught so that the only response is a series of words (a 
definition) or they can be taught so that a whole series of ideas 
follows requiring the writing of a paragraph to express adequately 
the idea. Demonstrations, experiments, discussions, etc., help 
here, as contrasted with the mere use of a textbook. 

' Kate Gordon, Educational Psychology, 1917, p. 173ff. 



11 COMMITTING TO MEMORY A VOCABULARY 79 

Learning through an Intermediate Association — Asso- 
ciative Shifting 

Having considered at some length the process of learning a 
German-English pair of words through sheer repetition, let us 
now consider the process when the two words are learned through 
the use of an intermediate thought, e. g., "hund-hound-dog." 
Here again we have the same situation-response combinations 
to start with as before, i. e. : — 

Situation Response 

1 seeing hund > pronouncmg hund 

2 seeing dog > pronouncing dog 

3 seeing dog > thinking Toby 

4 seeing dog > thinking animal 

etc. 

But it is evident, in that the individual went from "hund" to 
"hound," that there was also the situation "hund" — response 
"hound." In like manner there was also the situation 
"hound" — response "dog." There is no difficulty attaching 
to this second additional situation-response combination. But 
there is in the first case. Why did "hund" call up "hound"? 
They have never been together before. Can a situation call up 
a new response of its own accord with no previous connection 
between them? Yes and no. Certainly not if there has been 
no previous connection between them. "Hund" would never 
call up "zojk," or "star" for example. But in this case, although 
the total situation (seeing "hund") and the total response 
(saying "hound") have never been together before, there are 
parts of the situation which have been together with parts of the 
response. The letters "h-und" in "hund" have been together 
and in the same order as in "hound."- Those individuals who 
saw the connection between "hund" and "hound" did so in 
terms of these common details in the total situation and the 
response (hound). But some individuals did not see the connec- 
tion at first, they discovered it after pronouncing "hund." 
Pronouncing "hund" became the situation which called to mind 
the English word "hound." And here again the details — sound 
of "h" and "nd" in "hund" and in "hound" have been together 
so that emphasis upon "h-nd" could easily lead to "hound," 



80 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

in fact more easily than to "hund," because ''hound" is a more 
familiar word than "hund." 

We may then explain the cause of these individuals thinking 
"hund-hound-dog" by stating that they reacted not only to 
hund as a whole situation, but to the details of that situation, and 
that the reaction to the details gave them a response which was 
already linked up with the final response they desired. This 
process of reacting to a situation in terms of some of its parts 
comes under the Law of Partial Identity. When we have no 
bond between the situation and a response (or often a very weak 
bond) we are quite likely to respond to the situation in terms of 
certain of its parts to which we already have a strong bond. 
In this case the bond between "hund" and "dog" did not exist 
or was very weak from only one or two repetitions. We conse- 
quently reacted in terms of the details "h-und" instead of 
"hund" and thought "hound " — ^the nearest response to 
"h-und." 

There is still another factor to be considered. The Law of 
Partial Identity explains why the intermediate word "hound" 
should come to mind. But in terms of this law one would 
expect also to be reminded of such words as "hand" or "hind" 
as well as "hound." A careful analysis of what takes place in 
learning a vocabulary will reveal that many irrelevant words do 
flash through the mind. But one "dismisses" them immedi- 
ately, whereas one "holds on" to relevant words. Moreover, far 
more relevant words come to mind than irrelevant words. 
Although the chances should be very decidedly against the relevant 
word, we shall have to explain this phenomenon on the basis that 
not only does the word "hund" call up "hound "and other similar 
words, but the word "dog" also calls up words associated with it 
directly or through partial identity. As the word "hound" is 
brought to mind by both "hund" and "dog" and words like 
"hand" or "hind" or "animal" or "Toby" are brought to 
mind by only one of the two words, the word "hound" is far 
more likely to come into consciousness than any of the other 
words. This is an example of what is known technically as the 
summation of stimuli. A reaction is more likely to be made in 
response to two stimuli than to only one. One rriay ignore one 
ticklish sensation but respond violently to two. 



11 COMMITTING TO MEMORY A VOCABULARY 81 

Stimulus Substitution versus Associative Shifting 

The essential difference between the person who learned that 
"hund" means "dog" by sheer repetition and the one who learned 
that "hund" meant "dog" through the intermediary "hound" 
lies in the fact that the former developed a new bond, whereas 
the latter utilized bonds already in existence. The former is the 
simpler method and undoubtedly the more primitive, the latter 
is characteristic of some of the learning human beings are capable 
of as distinguished from what animals can do. The most signifi- 
cant difference is that learning a new bond through stimulus 
substitution requires several repetitions, or else a very strong 
stimulus, as the sting of a bee, or fright. On the other hand, 
through associative shifting, a new combination may be learned 
sufficiently in one repetition so that it will function efficiently 
throughout life. 

Learning by trial and error and by stimulus substitution are 
the only ways a new bond can be formed. But old bonds can be 
grouped or linked together in very complex ways. And 
apparently such reorganizations may be easily accomplished. (We 
shall return to this topic in Lesson 15.) 

In early life one has few situation-bond-response combinations. 
Consequently much of one's learning necessarily consists in 
forming new combinations. This means a great deal of repeti- 
tion. Children do not seem to mind it; in fact, they enjoy 
counting, reciting poems, songs, tables, etc. In later life, having 
now many bonds, one prefers to learn through recombining old 
bonds rather than developing new ones. It is often stated that 
children memorize better than adults. That has been disproved 
by experimentation. Children cannot memorize so well as 
adults, but they object less to doing so. Practically speaking, 
then, they may be said to memorize more easily than adults. 

Use of Mnemonic Devices in Memorizing 

Many attempts have been made to develop artificial schemes 
by which one could substitute associative shifting for rote mem- 
ory. And one or two such systems are constantly being advertised 
as panaceas for all our difficulties in memorizing names and faces 
and dates, etc. Here and there are persons who can utilize such 



82 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

mnemonic devices but with most persons it is as difficult to man- 
ipulate the scheme as to learn the material outright. Here is 
an illustration taken from one of these systems. To begin with, 
it should be understood that each number is represented by 
a letter, as, for example, is represnted by S, 1 by P and 3 by 
CH, etc. Now supposing one wanted to remember that Spain, 
Macedonia, Africa, Carthage, and Asia Minor were added to the 
Roman Empire in 130. Put down the initial letters of the five 
names, i. e., S M A C A M. This calls to mind "smack 'em," 
then "smack the lips," then "luscious peaches," and that gives 
us"PeaCHeS,"or 130. 

Whether one can remember dates more easily by such devices 
than by memorizing them outright depends on the individual 
almost entirely. In some cases one can utilize the steps employed 
by another, as in the case of learning the Chinese symbol for 
"well," but ordinarily if one does not originate the steps himself 
they are of little or no value. 



The Effect of Position upon Learning 

The first and last two or three pairs of words were learned much 
more quickly than the pairs in the middle of the list of twenty-five. 
This is a common occurrence under such conditions. Apparently 
in learning a vocabulary, for example, such as: — 



faire 


- do 


chien 


— dog 


mouche 


- fly 


pied 


— foot 



we not only respond with the word "do" to the situation "faire" 
but also to the situation "first word in the list." Likewise in the 
case of "chien — dog" we not only pronounce the word "dog" 
in response to the situation "chien" but to the situation "second 
word in the list" and very likely also in such a case to the situa- 
tion "do," since "dog" is so similar to "do." It is apparent that 
these "position" situations aid us materially in committing a 
vocabulary to memory but later on when "faire" is met in a 
French story it may not be reacted to because the element "first 
word in a vocabulary" is missing. Learning items in terms of 



11 COMMITTING TO MEMORY A VOCABULARY 83 

"position" is a risky performance if the items are to be met 
singly later in life. 

Thpj Prompting Method 

What we want in life is to be able to give the English equivalent 
of the foreign word when it is encountered (and vice versa). 
Through the prompting method we are drilled in reacting to the 
single words just as we shall wish to do later in life. For that 
reason it is superior to other methods of learning vocabularies 
in which we are drilled to react more or less differently from the 
way we need to respond. The best method of acquiring a vocabu- 
lary is through speaking the language and reading it, just as one 
learns his native tongue. If one must memorize vocabularies 
the best method is to prepare small slips of paper. On one side 
write the English term and on the other side the foreign equiva- 
lent. In studying the vocabulary pick up the slip of aper, read 
off the term on one side and recall its equivalent. If this can not 
be done, turn the paper over and repeat the two terms several 
times together. After thus going through the list, shuffle the 
slips of paper and repeat the process. In this way the "prompt- 
ing method" can be used by one person, and all associations with 
position are eliminated. 



LESSON 12 
WHAT ARE THE LAWS OF RETENTION? 

We have all had the experience of not being able to remember a 
fact or do a certain stunt which we have been able to do 
previously. We say we have forgotten. Let us look into this 
matter of forgetting and see of what it consists. 

In Lesson 4 the alphabet was repeated forwards twenty times 
and backwards twenty times and in Lesson 10 a vocabulary of 
25 Spanish-English words was memorized. These two experi- 
ments will now be repeated in order to discover how much has 
been retained and how much has been forgotten. (Obviously, if 
S practices before coming to class the experiment will be ruined.) 
A third experiment is concerned with the extent to which we 
are able to retain what has been presented to us for a very short 
interval of time. 

(Do not get excited because there are three experiments to do. 
They will not take very long. If necessary you can easily do the 
third experiment outside of class upon some friend.) 

Experiment I. To What Extent Does One Retain 
Learning to Say the Alphabet? 

Apparatus. — Watch with second-hand. 

Procedure. — Have S (the same individual who was S in the 
Alphabet experiment in Lesson 4) repeat the alphabet (1) for- 
wards and (2) backwards twenty times each. Record the time 
for each trial. 

Results.- — -Plot on one sheet of co-ordinate paper the curve (1) 
of learning the alphabet forwards and (2) backwards as obtained 
in Lesson 4 and (3) the curve of relearning the alphabet forwards 
and (4) backwards as obtained here. (The results should be 
worked up after completing the next experiment.) 

84 



12 WHAT ARE THE LAWS OF RETENTION? 85 

Experiment II. To What Extent Does One Retain A 
Vocabulary? 

Apparatus. — The same Spanish-English vocabulary used 
Lesson 10. 

Procedure. — Use here the same S as in Lesson 10. E prepares 
another blank similar to the model in Lesson 10 and writes in 
the 25 Spanish and English words. He supplies S with a list 
of the 25 Spanish words. There will be no initial reading of the 
vocabulary to S as was done in Lesson 10. When E and S are 
ready S will commence at the top of the list of Spanish words and 
pronounce the first Spanish word and then attempt to give the 
English equivalent. (1) If he does so, E says nothing and S 
passes to the second pair immediately calling out the Spanish 
word and giving its English equivalent, etc. (2) If S gives an 
incorrect English word, E will write that word in Column 1 
opposite the appropriate Spanish word, and prompt S as to what 
the correct English word is. S then pronounces the next Spanish 
word, etc. (3) If S makes no reply within 5 seconds, E marks 
an "x" in Column 1 opposite the Spanish word, and prompts S as 
to the correct English word. Then S pronounces the next 
Spanish word, etc. 

Repeat the above procedure trial after trial until S can give 
correctly the English equivalent to each of the 25 Spanish words 
without error and without waiting more than 5 seconds in any 
case. 

Results. — Plot (1) the curve of learning the vocabulary as 
obtained in Lesson 10 and (2) the curve of relearning as obtained 
here. 



Experiment III, How Many Digits Can One Repeat Cor- 
rectly Immediately after Hearing Them (Memory 
Span Test) 

Apparatus. — List of digits given below. 

Procedure. — Using the series of digits given below, read a short 
series to S at the rate of one digit per second. Take the utmost 
care to read so as to ensure even tempo, clear articulation, and 
entire absence of rhythm. 



86 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

While E is reading the list to S the latter should keep his mouth 
closed and should not repeat the digits to himself. Directly at the 
conclusion of the series, let S repeat as much as possible of what 
has just been read him. (In testing young children E should record 
in writing S's reproduction; with older individuals it is advisable 
to have S write down his own reproduction. In this case S 
should indicate each omission by a dash or a blank space, thus 
for the series, 9, 4, 7, 3, 5, 8, 6, the reply is 9, 4, 7, — , 8, 5, 6, if S 
is unable to remember the fourth digit and has interchanged the 
fifth and sixth digits.) 

After having read a short series to S and having obtained his 
correct reproduction, read him a longer series. If he is again 
correct, read the next longest, and continue until he makes errors. 
Suppose his first error is with a series of seven digits. Then 
secure in all three trials with the series of six digits, three with 
seven digits, and three with eight digits. In other words discover 
the longest series that S can reproduce correctly three times, also 
the shortest series that S cannot reproduce correctly at all in 
three trials, as well as three trials with any series of intermediate 
length. 

Credit S with his best score, i. e., if he responded correctly to 
all three of the 5's, to only one of the series of 6's, and no times 
to the series of 7's; then credit him with a memory span of 6. A 
correct answer means that the digits are not only all repeated 
but they are repeated in the original order. 

Memory Span Test 



2. 


7-3 


1-6 


8-5 


3. 


2-9-4 


8-3-7 


9-6-1 


4. 


5-1-8-3 


9-2-7-4 


3-8-2-6 


5. 


4.7-3.9.2 


6-4-1-8-3 


2-8-3-7-9 


6. 


8.5-1-7-2-9 


2-7-9-3-8-1 


9.4-1-7-2-8 


7. 


2-9-6-4-8-7-5 


9-2-8-5-1-6-4 


1-3-8-5-9-7-4 


8. 


4-7-2-9-5-8-1-6 


7.1.8.3-6-2-9-5 


4-6-1-5-8-2-9-7 


9. 


7-2-4-9-3-8-6-1-5 


4-7-5-2-9-3-6-1-8 


2-5-9-3-8-1-4-7-6 


0. 


8-3-9-5-1-6-2-7-0-4 


7.4.0-2-5-1-9-3-8-6 


2-6-1-4-0-7-3-8-5-9 



In case of any mistake, additional series can be obtained by 
reading the above lists of digits backwards. In retesting an 
individual this should be done. Let each partner act as S in 
this experiment, if there is time. 



12 



WHAT ARE THE LAWS OF RETENTION? 



87 



Results. — Record the memory span of each partner. 
Interpretation. — Answer the following questions based on the 
three experiments. 

1. How much do you calculate S forgot during the interval of 
time between the first and second alphabet experiments? Between 
the two vocabulary lessons? 

2. On the basis of the first two experiments and your general 
knowledge, do you think that a person who had studied Latin 
two years would ever forget the first conjugation? Get as good 
evidence for your view as you can. 

3. In what way is the memory span test related to the two 
experiments on retention? Explain. In what ways do the two 
differ? 

4. According to data furnished by Stiles/ children have 
memory spans, as given below. In the second and four columns 
are given the average memory spans for boys and girls and in the 
third and fifth columns are given the memory spans that the 
poorest child of the best % of each class had. The data are 
based on records from 751 boys and 834 girls. 





Boys 


Girls 






Division be- 






Division be- 


Age 


Average 


tween best % 
and poorest J'^ 


Average 




tween best % 
and poorest 3^ 


6 


5.3 


5 


5.5 




5 


7 


5.6 


5 


5.6 




5 


8 


6.3 


6 


6.1 




5 


9 


6.5 


6 


6.6 




6 


10 


6.8 


6 


6.4 




6 


11 


6.6 


6 


6.9 




6 


12 


6.9 


6 


6.9 




6 


13 


6.9 


6 


7.2 




7 


14 


7.2 


6 


7.1 




6 


15 


7.2 


7 


7.2 




7 


16 


7.4 


7 


7.2 




7 


17 


7.5 


7 


7.7 




7 



1 C. W. Stiles, Memory Tests of School Children, U. S. Pub. Health 
Service, Reprint No. 316, Dec. 24, 1915. 



88 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



Gates^ reports the following distribution for 163 college students 
in visual and auditory memory span. (His results are con- 
verted here into percentages, i. e., 0% of college students have a 
memory span of 4 with visually presented material, 1% have a 
span of 5, 9% of 6, 18% of 7, etc.) 



No. of digits 


4 5 


6 


7 


8 


9 10 


11 


12 


Visual presentation 

Auditory presentation 






1 

7 


9 
14 


18 
18 


39 
35 


21 
18 


8 
6 


2 
1 


2 

1 



In the light of the figures in these two tables and your own 
records what do you suppose is the relationship between profici- 
ency in memory span and (1) age, (2) general intelligence? 

5. Would you expect as good school work from a child of 12 
years of age who has a memory span of 5, as you would from a 
child with a memory span of 7? Explain. 

6. Would knowing the memory span of an individual help you 
at all in advising him as to the kind of job he should attempt to 
get? Consider such jobs as these for a girl: saleswoman in a 
store, cook, telephone operator, stenographer, machine operator, 
milliner, book-keeper, teacher. 

Write up these three experiments following the regular outline 
and hand in at the next class-hour. Do not forget the heading 
"Apph cations." 

^ A. I. Gates. The Mnemonic Span for Visual and Auditory Digits, 
Jour. Exper. Psychol., Oct., 1916. 



LESSON 13 
RETENTION (continued) 

The subject of retention has to do, of course, with the perma- 
nency of our learning. , We have seen that in learning we develop 
a new bond between a situation and its response. We are here 
interested in discovering whether this bond remains permanently 
in the same condition as time goes on. When we learned the 
alphabet backwards we formed new bonds, for example between 
N and M and between U and T. After an interval of time has 
elapsed will these bonds function in the same way as they did 
just after they were formed? 

Let us consider the data from a subject who did the alphabet 
experiment first on June 17 and repeated it again on June 23. 
His data are as follows: 



HALS 


Time, June 17 


Time, June 23 


1 


26.0 Sec. 


17.2 Sec. 


2 


22.0 Sec. 


16.2 Sec. 


3 


22.0 Sec. 


17.3 Sec. 


4 


18.8 Sec. 


15.4 Sec. 


5 


17.8 Sec. 


11.1 Sec. 


6 


19.8 Sec. 


12.0 Sec. 


7 


19.0 Sec. 


10.0 Sec. 


8 


18.8 Sec. 


10.0 Sec. 


9 


26. 4- Sec. 


14.4 Sec. 


10 


28.4 Sec. 


9.0 Sec. 


Jl 


16.0 Sec. 


15.3 Sec. 


12 


16.0 Sec. 


10.0 Sec. 


13 


16.4 Sec. 


10.0 Sec. 


14 


12.4 Sec. 


9.2 Sec. 


15 


11.8 Sec. 


10.0 Sec. 


16 


14.4 Sec. 


10.0 Sec. 


17 


9.6 Sec 


8.2 Sec. 


18 


14. 4 Sec. 


8.2 Sec. 


19 


11.4 Sec. 


8.0 Sec. 


20 


11.4 Sec. 


9.0 Sec. 



His last trial on June 17 required 11.4 seconds and the first trial 
six days later took 17.2 seconds. We can say then that he has 

89 



90 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

forgotten this performance to the extent of 5.8 seconds (17.2 — 
11.4). But this does not mean that he has lost all that was 
gained from the twenty trials. If all had been lost it would have 
taken him 26 seconds on the first trial on June 23d, as it took 
him that long on the first trial of June 17. 

As it was, he retained this performance to the extent of 88. 
seconds (26.0 — 17.2). Clearly, then, one does lose during an 
interval of time part of what one was able to do, but one does not 
lose all. 

Or looking at these data in another way, this individual on his 
eleventh trial on June 17th beat his first trial on June 23d. We 
might say then that he lost the effect of 10 trials during the 
interval of six days, i. e., the effect of the 11th to the 20th trial. 
But on the other hand the 10th trial on June 23d (9.0 seconds) 
beat the best record on June 17 (9.6 seconds). That is, appa- 
rently only 10 trials were needed the second day to accompHsh 
what was not accomplished in twenty trials on the first day's 
practice. 

To sum up, then, this individual retained during the six days 
the effect of the first ten out of the twenty trials or an increase in 
rate of 8.8 seconds (26.0—17.2). He lost the effect of the last ten 
trials or a decrease in rate of 5.8 seconds (17.2 — 11.4). 

As for the relationship between what one loses and what one 
retains, that is found to be dependent on several factors, the chief 
of which is obviously the amount of practice which entered into 
the previous learning. Without doubt the more thoroughly 
one learns a thing originally the better one can remember it. 
Hence we say that retention is dependent upon amount of practice 
or that retention is dependent upon strength of the bond. 



The Effect of Time Interval upon Retention 

The results outlined above are characteristic of what one retains 
and what one loses during an interval of time. If the interval is 
very short, one of course retains proportionately a great deal of 
what he has learned and one loses very little. If on the other 
hand, the interval is very long, the relationship is reversed. 

Now it is natural to suppose that the longer the interval of time 
the more one would forget. If one lost 10% during an interval 



13 RETENTION 91 

of an hour, then one would lose 20% during a two-hour interval, 
or 30% during a three-hour interval. But if this proportion is 
carried further one would lose 100%, or all, in 10 hours and 110% 
in 11 hours, which is, of course, impossible. Apparently this is 
not the correct conception. The rate of forgetting is not pro- 
portional to the time that has elapsed. It is actually very 
rapid during the first few minutes and becomes less and less as 
time goes on. In Plate IX are given two retention curves, one 
worked out by Ebbinghaus^ in 1885, and the other by the writer^ 
in 1913. 

In Table I are given the data on which these curves are based. 



Table I. — Peh Cent. 


Retained After Varying Inte 


rvals of Tiw 




Results of Ebbinghaus, 


Results of Strong, 


Interval of Time 


Per Cent. 




Per Ce.vt. 


15 Seconds 






84.6 


5 Minutes 






72.7 


15 Minutes 






62,7 


20 Minutes 


58,2 






30 Minutes 






55,5 


1 Hour 


44.2 




57.3 


2 Hours 






47,2 


4 Hours 






50,6 


8 Hours 






40,6 


8.8 Hours 


35.8 






12 Hours 






41,1 


1 Day 


33 . 7 




28.8 


2 Days 


27.8 




22,9 


4 Days 






19,3 


6 Days 


25.4 






7 Days 






9.6 


31 Days 


21,1 






42 Days 






6,3 



From the figures of Ebbinghaus a person retains approximately 
two-thirds of what he learned after 20 minutes, one-half after an 
hour, one-third after 9 hours, and but one-fourth after 2 days. 
The writer's figures show a somewhat greater amount retained 
after very short intervals of time and a somewhat smaller amount 
after long intervals of time. But the principle remains the same 

1 H. Ebbinghaus, Ueber das Geddchtnis, Leipzig, 1885. 

2 E. K. Strong, Jr., The Effect of Time-Interval upon Recognition 
Memory. Psychol. Rev., Sept., 1913. 



92 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



in both. We forget very rapidly at first and then more and more 
slowly. 

Retention of Motor Habits. — The curves of retention given in 
Plate IX apply to the retention of habits that have been devel- 
oped with relatively few repetitions. When we turn from such 
performances to others, such as dancing, skating, typewriting, 




Plate IX.— Showing effects of various intervals of time upon retention. (Solid 
line— results on recall memory by Ebbinghaus; dotted line— results on recognition 
memory by Strong.) 



handwriting, etc., we find that there is no such rapid forgetting 
as these curves of forgetting suggest. After one has once learned 
to ride a bicycle one will forget relatively little during an interval 
of years in which the bicycle is not touched. In such a case a 
person has not only learned to ride a bicycle but he has ridden it 
time after time until the habit has been, as we technically say, 
over-learned enormously. The extent to which we retain a habit, 
whether it be of reciting a poem, playing a piece on the piano, or 
tying our necktie depends then (1) on the interval of time since 
we last practiced the habit, and (2) on the extent to which we 
practiced the habit originally. We may draw the moral from 



13 RETENTION 93 

this section that learning any habit to the extent that it will 
function correctly means that we know it at that time, but only 
much practice over and above such learning will insure our know- 
ing it months or years later. 

Physiological Basis for Retention 

The term "bond" has been used in this course to cover the 
nerve connections involved in learning. Later on certain phases 
of the nervous system will be discussed. At present only one 
new conception need be considered. It is that a nervous current 
encounters resistance in flowing over a nerve; and the more fre- 
quently such a current flows over a particular nerve the less the 
resistance.^ 

A habit or memory is today conceived of as due primarily to 
the chemical change in the nerve connections whereby the resis- 
tance is lowered, thus permitting the nervous current to flow 
in this particular direction rather than in some other direction. 

Consider the analogy in Lesson 9 of Q, blindfolded, learning to 
go in a certain direction over a snow-covered field, depending 
first on signals from P and later on the "feel" of the path he has 
previously formed as distinguished from the untrodden snow. 
The analogy was presented to show how a smoothly running 
habit could develop from mere random movements. We can 
liken the resistance encountered in walking through the snow 
to the resistance offered to a nerve-current by a little used nerve. 
And we can liken the decreasing resistance encountered as the 
path develops in the snow to the decreasing resistance made to 
a nerve current by a more and more used nerve. At first it makes 
no difference which way Q travels through the snow, the resis- 
tance is equal in all directions. Later Q can travel more easily 
along the path he has previously formed than in any other direc- 
tion. Likewise in responding to a new situation (e. g., the at- 
tempt to wag the ears) the resistance is great over every possible 
pathway and there results either no response at all or all sorts 
of random movements (e. g., frowning, winking, twisting the 
mouth, raising the scalp, twitching of the toes, etc.). Later the 
situation produces the one response (moving the ears) and no 

^ See lesson 57, for more detailed discussion, under the heading of Synapse. 



94 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

other, because the resistance over the nerves connecting situa- 
tion and response is lower than any other pathway from the situa- 
tion to any other response. The new habit is dependent on the 
relatively low resistance of the nerves which connect situation and 
response as compared with the resistance of the nerves which connect 
the situation with any other response. The same thing is equally 
true of retention (of memory). In fact, retention is synonymous 
with lowered resistance over nerves. The resistance is lowered 
by use and increases again through disuse. 

At one time memory was thought of as the storing of nerve 
cells, similar to storing a storage room with supplies. Such a 
conception is false. Memories, or habits, are nothing more nor 
less than expressions of the fact that certain responses will now 
follow certain situations because of low resistance of the nerves 
comprising the bond. 

With these facts before us we can readily see the futility of 
supposing that a "memory" can be recalled at any time. A 
"memory" in this sense doesn't exist. All that actually exists 
is a system of conduction pathways with low resistance. If the 
former situation is encountered the proper response will follow 
because of this low resistance. But the response (memory or 
habit) will never appear unless the original situation, or a very 
similar situation (Law of Analogy) is presented. 



Relearning 

It is clear from what has been established that as soon as prac- 
tice in learning anything ceases one commences to forget. And, 
moreover, that one will forget very rapidly at first and then more 
and more slowly. We should expect accordingly that at the 
commencement of every writing lesson, every music lesson, 
every sort of lesson, the beginner will not do so well as he did at 
the end of the previous lesson. The first few minutes will be 
spent in relearni^ig what has been lost during the interval. It is a 
common observation that it takes a few minutes in which to warm 
up to a subject. The athlete finds this to be the case in physical 
work. One should realize that he cannot do his best work at the 
start, and not get discouraged but quietly and carefully go over 
the performance a number of times until he has relearned what 



13 RETENTION 95 

he has temporarily lost. Then ho can expect to be doing his 
best work and to commence trying to beat his previous record — 
to improve his accuracy and his speed. The writer has found 
this to be very true in his own case in typewriting. If he 
endeavors to go at full speed when he begins to write he only 
makes mistakes and is apt to continue to make more mistakes 
throughout his entire period of work. But if he will content him- 
self with going slow for a few minutes at the start he can soon go 
ahead at full speed making but few mistakes. 

(Some writers maintain that there are two factors involved here 
— one due to relearning and another to warming-wp. In studying 
the rate at which individuals work in all sorts of industries it is 
clear that they work more slowly early in the morning than later 
in the day. This phenomenon affords some evidence for a 
"warming up" factor related to getting started going in the 
day. And likewise there may be a similar tendency related to 
starting working at any particular task, besides that involved in 
"relearning." Very often we do not feel at all in the mood, as 
we say, and after working for some time become deeply interested 
and lost in the work. Possibly this change is due to other causes 
than relearning, i. e., bringing the bonds which are needed for 
our work up to their highest state of efficiency. The writer, 
however, believes that the term "relearning" covers most, if 
not all of these cases, except in the case of the daily warming-up 
phenomenon.) 



Primary and Secondary Retention 

A mental process continues to remain in consciousness for a 
short interval of time. For example I look up a telephone 
number, lay down the book, put the receiver to my ear, and after 
hearing from central, say, "Hemlock 2173-L." Central in a 
moment replies "Line is busy." I hang up and decide to wait a 
few minutes and then discover the number has slipped from my 
mind. The retention of the number from the time it was seen 
in the book until it was recited to Central is an example of 
primary retention. The number was really at no moment out of 
my mind. But as soon as it had been given to Central, it was 
dismissed. Now if I could call it to mind again, as I can my 



96 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

own house number, that would be a case of secondary retention 
or recall. The laws for forgetting so far discussed refer to secondary 
retention, a term which covers both recall and recognition 
memory. Primary memory, on the other hand, persists for but 
a few seconds. That it seemingly lasts longer is due to the fact 
that we keep repeating the contents over and over and so con- 
tinue its existence in consciousness. 

One of the most interesting facts concerning primary memory 
is given us in such an experiment as that of Memory Span. Here 
is measured the number of digits that can be retained in primary 
memory. An average adult can so hold seven digits. Children 
differ from adults in this respect. A two to three year old can 
retain but two digits. A little later the child can repeat three 
digits. And so as he grows older he acquires a greater and 
greater ability along this line. Defective children without 
normal mentality often show marked inferiority in their memory 
span. A child of twelve years of age with a memory span of four 
is most likely to be defective. Recently the writer was asked to 
help a young woman get a job. She was about 18 years old but 
had a memory span of four. Other tests showed her to be but 9 
years old mentally. The failure to reach adult proficiency in 
memory span would shut her out of such jobs as a telephone 
operator or stenographer, for in both these occupations there is 
decided need for primary retention. In fact her low memory span 
emphasized the uselessness of her attempting to do any work 
which required attention upon a number of details at the same 
time. Running a simple machine or selling goods in a five and ten 
cent store would be as complicated tasks as she could do. And 
in fact, these were the only jobs this young woman had ever 
been able to hold more than two weeks. 

One of the most useful tests that can be made on children is this 
one of the memory span. When poor work in school and low 
memory span are found together, it is quite likely to mean that 
the child is dull and cannot do good work. When, on the other 
hand, poor work and a good memory span are found together, 
it is more than likely that thp child is not trying sufficiently, 
or has become discouraged in his work for some reason or other, 
or has been sick and absent and missed important points in his 
lessons. One cannot diagnose all of a child's condition with this 
test, but it is a good one to start with. 



13 RETENTION 97 

Methods Employed in Studying Retention 

It might be worth while to digress a moment and consider the 
methods employed in the two investigations quoted above. 
Ebbinghaus made up lists of 13 nonsense syllables such as, neb, 
pid, raz, tud, cor, etc. He memorized seven such lists one 
after the other to the degree that he could recite the lists once 
correctly from memory. He then relearned the seven lists after 
intervals of 20 minutes, 1 hour, 8.8 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 6 days 
and 31 days. He kept a record of the number of repetitions that 
were required to learn a list originally and then relearn it. Sup- 
pose he required 10 repetitions to learn a list originally and after 
two days he required 7 repetitions to relearn a list. It is clear 
that he has saved 3 repetitions (10 — 7) and has lost 7 repetitions 
after two days as compared with his original learning. Divid- 
ing the number of repetitions which he has saved (3) by the 
number of repetitions which he was originally required to make 
in learning the list (i. e., 10) we have ^o, or 30%, as the amount 
saved or retained after an interval of two days. (This is a 
comparable method to the prompting method discussed in 
Lesson 11, and is technically known as the learning and saving 
method.) 

In the case of the writer's investigation he employed lists of 
twenty words. S read the list through just once. Then after 
one of the thirteen intervals of time employed (e. g., 15 seconds, 
or 8 hours, or 7 days) S was given a list of 40 words containing the 
original 20 words and 20 new words all mixed in together. S 
was required to go through the list and mark the words he recog- 
nized as having been in the original list. The percentage recogn- 
ized gave the amount retained. (This is known as the recognition 
method.) 

The two investigations were based on two different types of 
memory. In the case of Ebbinghaus' work S had to recall 
the list. In the case of the writer's investigation S had merely to 
recognize the words he had previously seen, to distinguish between 
the new words and the old words. But in both cases the extent 
to which S could recall or recognize was due to the strength of the 
bond that had been formed during the learning. In the next 
chapter we shall take up the matter of the strength of the bond 
and consider it more fully. 



98 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

Summary 

The principal points considered in the lesson are: 

1. Retention is dependent on (a) the strength of the bond and 
(6) the interval of time which has elapsed since the last practice. 

2. We forget very rapidly at first and then more and more 
slowly. 

3. Only through a great amount of practice can one hope to 
retain a memory or habit over a long interval of time. 

4. Relearning at the start of any practice is to be expected. 
The following minor points were also touched on. 

1. The physiological basis for retention. 

2. Primary versus secondary retention. 

3. Use of memory span test in diagnosing an individual's 
capacities. 

4. The "learning and saving" method of studying retention. 

5. The "recognition memory" method of studying retention. 

6. Recall versus recognition memory. 



LESSON 14 

WHAT FACTORS AFFECT THE STRENGTH OF A 
BOND? 

From our experiments on the learning process we know that 
practice (repetition) results in our doing the task better and 
l)etter. This means that the bond or bonds connecting the 
situation and the response become stronger and stronger. And 
from our study of retention we have seen that lapse of time in 
which no practice occurs results in our losing some of our effi- 
ciency in the task. This means that such lapse results in a weak- 
ening of the bonds connecting the situation and response. 
Clearly then, use strengthens a bond and disuse weakens it. 

Let us turn now and see if there are still other factors which 
affect the strength of a bond. 

The class-hour will be devoted to a demonstration experiment. 
Each member of the class will consequently act in the role of 
subject. Carry out the instructions of E as conscientiously as 
possible but do not worry if you find you are not retaining all 
that is presented. No one can. Simply endeavor to pay atten- 
tion throughout the entire experiment and to absorb as much as 
possible. 

The total results as obtained from the class will be given to you 
before leaving, together with such details of the procedure as are 
essential for you to know. Write up the experiment in the usual 
manner, i. e., under the headings: The Problem, Apparatus, 
Procedure, etc. Work up the data as it seems best to you, 
bringing out the important facts and principles which are illus- 
trated. Hand in your report at the next class-hour. 

Note for Instructor. — Instructions regarding giving this class experi- 
ment are given in Instructoi-'s Manual. 



99 



LESSON 15 

FACTORS AFFECTING THE STRENGTH OF A BOND 

(continued) 

Six factors will be considered in this lesson as affecting the 
strength of a bond. They are^ — ^repetition, intensity, interfer- 
ence, reorganization, recency, and effect. Data on the effective- 
ness of the first four were obtained from the experiment in Lesson 
14. The factor of recency or lapse of time since learning was 
studied in Lessons 12 and 13. The factor of effect of satisfac- 
tion and dissatisfaction will be considered for the first time. 

Factors That Strengthen a Bond 

A new bond is formed through trial and error or stimulus sub- 
stitution. It may be strengthened in one of three ways: — • 

Repetition. — The fact that repetition strengthens a bond has 
been clearly shown in all of the preceding experiments. In the 
last experiment when a combination was shown once it was 
remembered by 5% of the individuals, when shown twice it was 
remembered by 9%, and when shown three times, by 41 % of the 
individuals. These figures show the value of repetition. It 
should not be assumed that they represent what would happen 
under other conditions. The more items shown the weaker is 
the relative value of repetition. If there were but ten addition 
combinations to learn a few repetitions would suffice to fixate 
them. But as there are many more than that very many more 
repetitions are necessary. The figures in the table, however, do 
illustrate the value of repetition. 

Intensity, (a) Intense Stimulation. — Of two repetitions the 
one that is the result of the greater stimulation will result in the 
greater development of the bond. A tiny burn on the skin will 
not make us leave the hot radiator alone like a large burn. In 
physiological terms the release of a large amount of nervous 
current by stimulation of the sense organs will more materially 

101 



102 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

affect the nerve connections than will the release of a small 
amount of current. This is the basis for the factor of intensity 
as it affects the strength of a bond. In our experiment there was 
no adequate example of a violent stimulation. If there had been 
that combination would have been exceedingly well remembered. 
This might have been accomplished in the experiment by having 
exposed a combination twice or three times as long, or by having 
the instructor call out the combination as he showed it. But 
neither of these is comparable with the intense stimulation we 
experienced when we caught a bee the first time. Throughout 
life that one experience of being stung is remembered and we 
markedly differentiate bees and other insects. The artificial 
production of great stimulation is difficult to accomplish in 
influencing others. It is done sometimes through punishment. 
A better example is where a parent or teacher arranges matters so 
that the child will get, for example, a slight electrical shock in 
order to teach him to leave wires alone. 

(6) Contrast. — A stimulus will be reacted to more intensely if 
its surroundings contrast sharply with it. Thus an ordinary 
electric light will barely be noticed among fifty others. But if 
the other forty-nine are made to glow very brightly or very 
dimly, then it will be singled out. The first and last elements 
in a series are often noticed more than those in the middle and 
being noticed more are better remembered. This was the case 
in learning a vocabulary, but not in the experiment in Lesson 14. 
The contrast factor of difference in background is sometimes effec- 
tive, though not always. The intensity gained through contrast 
alone seldom amounts to more than a few per cent. Men and 
women do not usually distinguish between contrast and other 
factors and so attribute to it much more value than is due it. 
For example, if one is looking for a certain hotel and a light 
flashes on and off around the hotel name, the name is seen much 
more quickly and the flashing light is given the credit quite 
properly. But if one were not looking for the hotel, the hotel 
name would be ignored almost as much as though the light were 
not there. The efficiency of the flashing fight is due to the con- 
trast effect plus the desire to see the name. And the latter 
element is the more important of the two. Possibly the true 
situation is this. If only one or two items are made prominent by 
contrast then they are noticed to a considerable extent and so 



15 FACTORS AFFECTING STRENGTH OF A BOND 103 

reinciiibcrcd. If many items arc made prominent, the intensity 
factor becomes much less valuable. Contrast the value, for 
example, of one colored advertisement in The Saturday Evening 
Post as against twenty or one hundred. 

Prominence (intensity or contrast) may aid in learning because 
the item is singled out and noticed more than the others and, 
therefore, remembered better. 

(c) Emotional Excitement. — A bond is also strengthened by 
emotional excitement. If a child is told that punishment will 
result if he does not do as directed, he is more likely to remember 
than if the emotional fear were not aroused. Incidents seen in 
a movie are surprisingly well remembered in contrast to what is 
learned in school. (This topic is included here, in order to round 
out this discussion. It will be considered at greater length, 
beginning with Lesson 31.) 

Effect, (a) Satisfaction. — Thorndike^ states that when we 
make a response to a situation and feel satisfied or pleased, then 
the bond is strengthened because of the satisfyingness. When 
the response is followed by dissatisfaction, the bond is weakened 
because of the dissatisfyingness. Moreover, the closer or more 
intimate the relationship between the performance and the 
satisfaction or dissatisfaction the more pronounced is the effect 
upon the strengthening or weakening of the bond. 

Effect influences learning because the resulting satisfaction or 
dissatisfaction establishes, first, a standard in terms of which 
successful movements are repeated and unsuccessful ones dis- 
continued, and second, the organism continues a process which 
gives him pleasure and discontinues a process which gives him 
displeasure. All of Watson's^ experiments in which he rewards 
the correct movement and punishes the incorrect ones bear this 
out. His rats choose the former because they are so constituted 
that they go toward food and not away from it, avoid an electric 
shock instead of seeking it. We develop habits which result in 
our being able to do what we enjoy and we do not form habits 
which result in unpleasantness. 

The Law of Effect which we add to our five other factors means, 
then, that learning is dependent (1) on the presence of some 
standard which determines when the learning process (random 

1 E. L. Thorndike, Educational Psychology, 1913, Vol. II, p. 4. 
^J. B. Watson, Behavior, 1914, Chapter VII. 



104 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

movements) is ended, (and it is ended when we obtain a more 
satisfactory state than before, or are completely exhausted) and 
(2) on the fact that we will continue pleasant responses but will 
not continue unpleasant ones. 

The second thought in Thorndike's statement is also important. 
The sooner after the movement has been made that we know we 
are on the right track or on the wrong track (i. e., experience 
satisfaction or dissatisfaction), the greater is the value of this 
factor in learning. If a child has spelled incorrectly or disobeyed 
his mother then immediate punishment is far more efficient than 
delayed punishment. In fact, in teaching animals or small chil- 
dren only immediate praise or punishment is worthy of considera- 
tion. As one grows older one can profit from satisfaction or 
dissatisfaction after much longer intervals between the execution 
of the act and the resulting realization that one has performed the 
act correctly or incorrectly. Nevertheless the shorter the inter- 
val of time the greater the value of this factor of "effect." 
Conscientious high school or college teachers of English labor for 
hours making detailed corrections in grammar, etc., in themes and 
then wonder why the same mistakes are made again and again. 
One reason is undoubtedly that the correction follows so long 
after the act. Immediate correction would accomplish wonders 
here as contrasted with this long delayed arousal of dissatisfac- 
tion. Grammar school teachers, on the other hand, require each 
child to write his lesson on the board and call upon him to defend 
it before the class. Here the interval between execution and 
realization is reduced to a minimum. 

Factors That Weaken a Bond 

Lapse of Time.— Experiments in relearning the alphabet and 
vocabulary have clearly demonstrated that we forget, that our 
bonds do deteriorate if they are not used. The more recently 
we have performed an act the better can we do it again. (This 
factor is often entitled, "Recency" instead of "lapse of time.") 

Interference is a factor in affecting the strength of a bond. We 
have here the formation of two bonds connecting the same situa- 
tion with two different responses. As both responses can not be 
made at the same time, when the situation is presented, no 
response results. If a child in reciting the multiplication table 



15 FACTORS AFFECTING STRENGTH OF A BOND 105 

says 9 X 7 is 63 and later says 9 X 7 is 67, when called on by the 
teacher for the answer to 9 X 7 he will make no reply in most 
cases, or wildly guess. To strengthen a bond requires then 
that no competing bonds be formed at the same time. After 
a bond has been well developed, however, a new bond may be 
developed without any great injury to the old one. Herein 
lies one of the reasons for teaching the addition combinations 
first and then the multiplication combinations afterwards. If 
they were taught at the same time there would be great confusion. 
After the first have been well learned then the latter can be read- 
ily learned. But even here it is an advantage to keep them apart 
in the school work until both are fairly well developed. 

"Distraction" is another phase of interference. The playing 
of a piano in the next room interferes with one's study. Here 
there is competition between situations, i. e., "music" and "alge- 
])ra" rather than between the responses to the same situation. 

Effect, (b) Dissatisfaction. — Just as a satisfying effect from 
the performance strengthens the bond, so a dissatisfying efl'ect 
weakens the bond. This law explains how new styles of dress 
and manner are learned with such surprising rapidity and then 
as quickly dropped. It is a factor that underlies the self-con- 
scious and suggestible attitudes discussed in Lesson 9. When in 
those attitudes one is responding to any indication of approval 
or disapproval from within oneself or from another, and one is 
is reacting to such, even more than to the problem confronting 
him. 

Reorganization 

Reorganization is not a factor in the development of a really 
new bond, of course, but from the practical point of view of 
learning it is a most important factor since a great deal of our 
learning consists of linking a situation with a response by means 
of already established bonds. To link "hund" with "dog" by 
means of the element "hound" is just as truly learning as to 
connect them directly together: so also to learn "C is 100" in the 
experiment of Lesson 14 through hnking up "C" with "Roman 
notation." This type has been called associative shifting, as 
the learning involves a reorganization or shifting of already formed 
l)onds or associations. 



lOG INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

The old, old adage in education of "going from the known to 
the unknown" in teaching emphasizes the value of this type of 
learning for when we start in to teach a new thing and first con- 
sider all of its phases which are already known, the child connects 
it up with old bonds and so utihzes them in learning. 

Novelty. — ^Human beings are particularly interested in a com- 
plex stimulus which stimulates a combination of old bonds that 
have never before been stimulated together. For example, the 
writer was lecturing one hot day just after lunch, upon this sub- 
ject and the students gradually became more and more listless 
and inattentive. Now either contrast or reorganization .could 
be utilized to get their attention. The writer could have talked 
louder, or paced up and down the room, or written on the board, etc. 
All these would be contrast effects and would have some effect. 
Instead he described in his ordinary tone of voice an advertise- 
ment entitled something like this, "How does (an actor) 

make a cat yawn on the stage every night?" Immediately, the 
class was awake and paying attention. Why? Because a 
situation made up of details with very old and well developed 
bonds was presented. And the combination was new. The 
words "cat," "yawn," "stage," and "night," have very strong 
bonds. Such a novel reorganization of old, familiar situations 
will always attract attention (i. e., be responded to) and will 
easily be retained. 

There is a profound difference between learning a new thing 
and learning a new comhiyiation of old things. The former is 
most uninteresting and difficult to "get hold of," despite the 
popular notion. Consider how uninteresting the first lesson in 
physics or algebra was, or how little you read of foreign countries 
you have not visited. On the other hand, consider with what 
interest the expert milliner reads over technical discussions of the 
latest styles, or a botanist seizes upon a new flower, or you read 
descriptions of places you have visited. The average visitor 
to Niagara Falls or Yosemite is very often disappointed at first. 
The scene is too new to make an impression. But as he continues 
to drink in the scene for several days it grows and grows on him 
because he has commenced to link it up with his other experi- 
ences. A big dog is a contrast to an ordinary sized dog. It 
arouses some notice and is more likely to be remembered than 
the average dog. But a dog with a pipe in his mouth is a 



15 FACTORS AFFECTING STRENGTJI OF A BOND 107 

iiovelty^ — ^a new combination of two old familiar things (dog and 
pipe). That dog draws a crowd. 

In teaching, in advertising/ or in any field where one desires 
to create an impression and have it retained, that impression can 
be most easily and efficiently accomplished by linking up the 
parts of the new impression through the use of old bonds, old 
ways of thinking. A novel presentation (i. e., one capable of 
reorganization by the learner) accomplishes most. And it is 
efficient just in the degree that the old is utilized by the learner 
in connecting the new together. Contrast effects, such as 
increasing the size of the type in an advertisement or the size 
of the advertisement itself, or giving it a colored background, 
or yelling at the class, or writing an assignment in pink chalk, 
or wearing a florid necktie, do not aid particularly in developing 
the new bonds presented in advertising, teaching, or salesman- 
ship, and sometimes they positively interfere through distraction. 

When the lesson can only be learned through the development 
of new (actually new) bonds, then drill (repetition) is the only 
solution. This does not mean that the lesson need be recited 
over and over in the same way. Proper drill is that in which 
the essential part is repeated again and again until mastered, 
but in which the repetition is carried on in various ways so 
that the learner does not tire of monotony, but is stimulated by 
the changes. 

1 See H. L. Hollingworth, Advertising and Selling, 1913, Chapters V and 
VI for an extended discussion of the factors of contrast and novelty as 
utilized in advertising. 



LESSON 16 
HOW TO REMEMBER 

We have now some idea of retention, of how habits and 
memories are retained from the time they were originally de- 
veloped until needed again. We have seen that these habits 
fade out as time goes on. We have seen that they are developed 
and strengthened by such factors as frequency and intensity and 
are influenced by such factors as interference, reorganization, 
and effect. 

We are now ready to consider the problem of reproduction, of 
how we may remember efficiently. 

It is clear that the strength of the bond must be a very impor- 
tant factor in efficient reproduction. If "6 by 7 equals 42" has 
been said but once, the bond necessarily is very weak and it will 
not be remembered as it would if the equation had been repeated 
twenty-five times. 

In this lesson we want to emphasize another factor affecting 
reproduction, — a factor which is just as obvious and just as 
fundamental as the one concerning the strength of the bond, but 
a factor which has been grossly overlooked in most psychologies 
and in the consideration of this problem by educators. Carry 
through the following experiments and then endeavor to formu- 
late into a law what efficient reproduction presupposes. 

General Directions. — Read over and perform each part before 
going on to the next part. 

Part 1. — Have S call out 30 words as fast as E can write them 
down. Record the time required to call out the 30 words. Then 
obtain from S a careful analysis of just how each word led to the 
next word. The analysis can take this form. 

108 



16 HOW TO REMEMBER 109 

1 house 

I 

2 yard 

I 
(cold weather) 3 hose 

4 freezing — 5 attic — 6 closet 

7 roof— ^8 repaired 

9 gutter 




10 sand-pile 

The diagram illustrates that "house" called up "yard" and 
that in turn "hose." "Hose" together with the idea of "cold 
weather" (an idea not pronounced by S but which came to mind 
at the time) (record such in parenthesis), called up "freezing" 
(hose might freeze and be injured). From "freezing" and 
"hose" came "attic" and "closet" (a good place to put hose). 
"Closet" started a new train of ideas caUing up "roof" (where 
there had been a leak which was now "repaired." "Roof" and 
"repaired" called up "gutter" (which needed repairing) and 
these called up "sand-pile" because the broken gutter caused 
the rain water to wash the children's sand pile away. 

Part 2. — Have S call out 30 words which are unrelated, i. e., 
have him talk pure nonsense. E should record time again and 
jot down the words. From S's introspections determine whether 
S called out all the words that occurred to him. (The time 
records may help in establishing this point.) Is it possible to 
think pure nonsense, i. e., to think words utterly unrelated? 

Part 3. — Recall (1) the name of your 7th Grade teacher; (2) 
the names of railroad stations near your home; (3) the authors of 
text-books used in last year's courses. How did you recall these 
facts? What ideas intervened between the instructions given 
here and the proper recall? Note them down. (If S has no 
difficulty in recalling the items listed in (1) to (3), E should ask 
for other material which S has some difficulty in recalling. 
Otherwise the point of this experiment will not be made clear.) 

Part 4. — Could you commence playing a piece in the middle 
where there was no natural break? Can you recite the names of 
the state capitals without thinking the names of the states? 
Can you think an idea not led up to by some previous idea? 



110 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 




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(U;* •peoi aittOD^ ihc plaou- 


agor 






^*****-«j^ C^*^<^^^ 









; its fruits you must know it. 
The natural product of the oak 

Is perfect aconu, Just as the normal product of tKe 

Mimeograph U /ir« pnnring. \i the Mimeograph 

fells to deliver exact copies of a clear original, some 

fictor In the simple process Is being neglected. 

Widi ordinary care Its habitual hourly ffrist b five 

thousand finely printed duplicates of a typevnitten 

sheet, form, blank, letter, design, chart, map. ei 

Too much emphasis cannot be laid upon the < 

qulalte work which the Mimeograph turns out— much 

quickct than by any other means and at almost negli- 

glble cost. More Mimeographs have been sold than all 

other similar duplicating devices cotnblncd— to business 

and educational institutions throughout the wotld. Le^ 

us show you how the Mimeograph outfit will < 

poues for you now. Send for interesting catalog "Q.9" 

— fr6m A. B. Dick Company, Chicago — and New York. 




olulely Euarancecd uniil igzi. Send lor (ample 
UNITED ROOFING AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY 



Plate X. — Which of these advertisements will cause efficient memory of the 
^. IHiia product? 



16 now TO REMEMBER 111 

Part 5. — Answer the following questions with respect to the 
four advertisements in Plate X: (a) What is the principal idea 
that is being connected up, (associated with) the product? 
(6) Is this idea a situation leading to the product as a response, 
or is this idea a response to the product? (c) Will this associa- 
tion help you to think of the product at a time when you are 
likely to be buying the product? In other words, when you are 
in a position to buy this product is the product going to come to 
mind and if so, is this particular company's product going to 
come to mind because of the effect of this advertisement? In 
answering this question, ask yourself the further question: 
Just when among all the minutes in a day should this company's 
product flash into mind? 

Part 6.^ — (a) What two factors are essential to efficient repro- 
duction? (6) How does this conclusion affect the organization 
of a lesson, or course of study? 

Write up the experiments according to the usual form and hand 
in at the next class-hour. 



LESSON 17 

HOW TO REMEMBER (continued) 

The Two Factors Essential to Efficient Recall 

All habits or memories are composed of a situation, a bond, 
and a response. These are the three components that were 
present as the habits were developed and they remain hnked 
together. Psychologically speaking, there cannot be a bond 
which exists alone separated from its situation and response (we 
often speak of a bond without mentioning its situation or response, 
but the latter are always implied as being present). When we 
speak of a habit or a memory we mean nothing more nor less 
than that there does exist a bond connecting a certain situation 
with a certain response. If the response occurs when the situa- 
tion is encountered, we have remembered. If the response does 
not occur when the situation is encountered, we have forgotten. 
We have forgotten because the bond is too weak to function. 

These axiomatic statements postulate therefore that the only 
way a desired response can he obtained is through the 'presentation 
of the situation which is connected with that response. You can 
only make a child think "64" by presenting some combination 
of figures as "8 X 8," which are known by the child to equal 
"64." Everything that we know, every act we are capable of 
performing, every thought we are capable of thinking, will 
remain unperformed or unthought until a situation is presented 
which will call up these acts or thoughts. No one can think 
nonsense, utterly pure nonsense, where each item is absolutely 
foreign to every other item. The "flight of ideas" or "inco- 
herent speech" given in Lesson 1 seems to be pretty near non- 
sense, pure and simple. But careful study shows that the 
separate items are connected, though not necessarily connected 
as rational individuals would connect them. 

Reproduction is dependent, then, (1) on the right situation being 
presented to cause the desired response and (2) on the strength of 
8 113 



114 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

the bond between situation and response. The second factor has 
ah-eady been sufficiently considered and needs to be mentioned 
here only in order to give us a complete grasp of just how repro- 
duction is to be obtained. If the bond is not strong enough, 
then evtn if the proper situation is presented, the response will 
not follow. This means that if I wish to remember the names 
of persons to whom I am introduced I must first of all definitely 
connect up their appearance with their name and, second must 
practice this connection a number of times. With practice one 
can learn to note peculiarities in many an introduced person 
that through the "law of analogy" will readily call up the indi- 
vidual's name. Only a few repetitions are necessary to develop 
such connections between appearance of the individual and his 
name. In the cases where no connection between appearance 
and name appears the bond must be developed through repeti- 
tion. Having formed a sufficiently strong bond, then, between 
the appearance of the individual and his name whenever the 
former is encountered the latter comes to mind. 

Until the bond reaches a certain strength it will not function 
so that the response will occur when the situation is presented. 
Starting from zero strength of a bond we may have to go to "n" 
strength before we reach the necessary strength. The term 
threshold of recall has been used to express this idea. Until the 
bond reaches a certain strength, i. e., rises above the threshold, 
the response will not be made. This conception of a threshold 
explains the oft heard expression, "I know, but I can't tell." 
The individual recognizes the situation, actually knows that he 
has responded to the situation before, but because the bond 
connecting the situation and the response is below the threshold, 
he cannot respond. The expression, when honestly employed, 
means in the school room that the child has not gone over his 
lesson sufficiently — that the situation-bond-response elements 
have been practised but not often, or intensely, enough to insure 
recall. 

Recall and Recognition 

Certain distinctions between recall and recognition have been 
pointed out already in Lesson 2 in discussing the steps of a sight- 
spelling lesson. Still other distinctions may be considered now. 



17 HOW TO REMEMBER (CONTINUED) 115 

The writer' suggests that recognition is to be explained as follows. 
On meeting a stranger I react in a certain definite way. The 
reaction is a very complex affair composed of certain thoughts 
concerning him, a certain facial expression, etc. Since this total 
complex reaction has never occurred before it takes longer to 
respond than it will the second time. (Successive repetitions 
lower the reaction time and increase the "ease" with which 
the reaction is made.) Now when I meet this stranger again this 
total complex reaction is more or less exactly repeated. This 
time the reaction is made more quickly and with more ease. I 
am so constituted that I can "note" that the reaction has . 
occurred more easily than if I were reacting to a stranger for the 
first time. The "noting" is recognition. I don't actually 
"note" these facts, instead, I simply realize I have met this 
individual before. Recognition appears, accordingly, when the 
same response is made, that was made before and the reaction 
occurs "easier " than if it were an entirely new response. Accord- 
ing to this view, "strangeness," "recognition," and "familiarity," 
constitute mental states which are determined by the "ease" of 
the reaction. 

Upon encountering a situation to which one has previously 
reacted, he may (1) both recall and recognize, or (2) recall but 
not recognize, or (3) recognize but not recall, or (4) neither recall 
nor recognize. When both recall and recognition are present 
there is complete reproduction (memory in the usual sense). 
The response is again made and w^e realize we have made it 
before. "Lucky guesses" in examinations are examples of recall 
without recognition. The answer is correct but it is not so 
recognized. Unfortunately, all such guesses are not correct. 
But the percentage is large enough to warrant such guessing 
unless it is important that no mistake be made. The third case 
of recognition without recall is very familiar. We have all had 
to say apologetically many times, "Yes, I recognize you perfectly, 
but I can't seem to remember your name." Probably here we 
make the same general response in terms of facial expression, 
liking or disliking, noting color of hair, eyes, etc., that we did 
before and recognize on this basis; but fail to recall the name 
because the bond between his appearance and name is too weak 

1 M. H. Strong and E. K. Strong, Jr., The Nature of Recognition 
Memory. Amer. Jour, of Psychol., July, 1916. 



116 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

to function. In the case when recall and recognition both fail 
to occur, the bond is too weak for recall or recognition, or a differ- 
ent set of reponscs are made. Several men I first met in uni- 
form, I have failed to recognize, probably for this reason. 

"Training" the Memory 

Much of the work now required of children in school is justi- 
fied by educators on the basis that it trains their memory. The 
fallacy in this assumption should be immediately clear to every 
reader. Substituting the word "habit" for "memory," we 
would read, Mary learns memory-gems in order to train her 
habit. Such a statement means nothing, nor does it mean any 
more when stated, Mary .learns memory-gems to train her 
memory. Memory and Habit are only abstractions. Memories 
and habits are concrete and numerous. Training Mary to 
make one response to a certain situation does not aid her directly 
in making another response to a new situation. Memorization 
of a poem is. one thing, of a Latin conjugation another. And 
neither helps one to learn chemical formulae nor the various kinds 
of dress-goods. Each specific habit must be developed by itself. 
Of course, it is not meant that learning Latin words does not 
help in learning botanical terms to the extent that there are 
common elements in the two. But that phase of learning will be 
discussed in Lesson 49. 

Is there any justification, then, for the notion that one gains 
something from memorizing poetry which will help him in later 
life? 

To make the matter absolutely clear let us at the start again 
affirm that memorizing one passage does not directly aid in 
memorizing even another passage. James found that training 
in memorizing one poem, such as the first book of Milton's 
Paradise Lost, did not improve the ability to memorize other 
poetry at all. 

What then is accomplished by such training? Primarily, 
various habits of attitude towards one's work are developed, also 
various ideals concerning work, and various methods of memoriz- 
ing. In training a child to memorize we are at the same time 
training him to neglect other things about him and to react to 
the one thing before him — the passage to be memorized. We 



17 HOW TO REMEMBER (CONTINUED) 117 

give him a new attitude toward the whole thing — before he may 
not have reahzed there was such a thing as a memorized passage. 
Now he knows there is, and that he can so learn himself. He has 
likewise learned various methods or devices which are useful in 
memorizing — e. g., that one must pay attention to the detailed 
parts of the passage as well as to the general whole of the thing, 
that one must make an effort to learn — listless repetitions are of 
little avail, etc. In a general way, then, a student does not 
improve his sheer capacity to memorize by memorizing but he 
does improve in a practical way in that he knows how to go to 
work, that he can learn, etc. 

Is not the psychologist making a distinction here which is of 
no value to the teacher, when he says memorizing does not im- 
prove one's capacity to memorize, but nevertheless that through 
the development of habits and ideals and methods it does make 
future memorizing easier? Not at all. The distinction is very 
vital. Instead now of the teacher concentrating her efforts on 
getting a great deal of memorizing done in order to make her 
pupils more efficient, she must direct her efforts toward seeing 
that her pupils do develop proper attitudes toward the work, do 
memorize correctly. Such a change upon the part of the teacher 
might result in her cutting down very materially the amount to 
be learned but in training the children so that they would learn 
what they did memorize in a far more efficient manner. 



How TO Memorize 

The following eight principles must be borne in mind in 
memorizing: — 

1. Repetition is essential. The longer the period in which the 
material is to be retained the more the repetitions that are 
necessary. 

2. The first few repetitions will produce noticeable returns; the 
later repetitions will produce scarcely noticeable returns. These 
later repetitions are just as important in effectuating a mastery 
of the material. (Recall data on learning curves.) 

3. Reviews at longer and longer intervals are necessary in 
order to insure that the material will be permanently retained. 

4. As soon as possible, cease simply reading through the 



118 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

material and commence attempting to recall it, prompting one- 
self when one can no longer recall. 

5. Learn by the whole method rather than by the sectional 
method. In other words read through and through all the 
material, rather than memorize one small part at a time. The 
best method in detail is (a) read through the entire passage a 
number of times to get an idea of it as a whole; (6) read through 
very slowly making sure what each phrase and clause means, so 
obtaining a detailed grasp of the meaning of the whole selection; 
(c) attempt to recall, prompting oneself just enough to go on. 
When this stage has been carried to the point that some parts 
are easily recalled, and other parts are not, then (d) take up the 
difficult parts one at a time and master them, (e) Return to the 
recall and prompting method, going through the entire passage 
again and again until memorization is complete. 

6. Distributed learning is superior to concentrated. That is, 
don't attempt to memorize at one sitting, but follow the 
procedure in (5), doing a little today, a little tomorrow, and so on, 
until the material is mastered. It is surprising how easily most 
individuals memorize when they only go over the material 
once a day. 

7. It is not sufficient that one make some reaction to the 
material to be mastered ; one must react to the material with the 
specific response of recalling just that which is to be retained. 
An example will make this clearer. Myers^ gave classes of indivi- 
duals the impression that they were being tested in speed and 
accuracy of spelling. He called out six words, one after the 
other, and after they had been written down, instructed the 
persons to turn over their paper. They were then called upon 
to reproduce the list of six words in their proper order. Ordi- 
narily adults would have little trouble in writing out six words 
just previously heard or written down. But only 5% of 236 
college students and school teachers succeeded in making a 
perfect score when their attention was directed to spelling and 
not to remembering the six words and in the correct order. Leav- 
ing aside the matter of order of the six words, the number of 
words recalled was as follows: — 

' G. C. Myers, A Study in Incidental Memory, 1913. 



17 now TO REMEMBER (CONTTNTIED) 119 

6 words were recalled by 25% 
5 words were recalled by 41 % 
4 Words were recalled by 28% 
3 words were recalled by 5 % 
2 words were recalled by 1 % 

The term incidental memory has been appHed to those cases 
where we have reacted to a situation in some way or other and 
then are called upon to make the specific reaction of recalhng 
the situation itself. Another interesting example of this same 
thing consisted in asking individuals to draw a representation 
of a watch face, with Roman numbers. Of 200 persons so tested 
all but 21 put in ''IV" instead of the "IIII," and all but 8 put 
in a "VI." Looking at a watch face thousands of times to tell 
the time does not equip a person with the ability to recall the 
details of that watch face. 

Because one has made one reaction to a situation does not 
imply that he will be able to make the specific reaction of recall- 
ing the situation itself. To memorize, one must react to the 
material with the specific reaction of recalling the material; no 
other reaction is of very much avail. 

8. A real aim or motive must be present, else memorization will 
not occur. That is, without "determination to learn" little will 
be retained even when the individual complies with (7). For 
example, one individual has looked up the squares of 13 to 25 
hundreds of times and still does not know them. A few repeti- 
tions made with the determination to learn them would have 
been sufficient to insure the proper responses when needed. 

Hollingworth^ reports that a number of individuals were 
required to call off as fast as they could the names of five 
colors arranged in an irregular order, twenty times each. This 
they did 220 times. No one was able to do more than give a 
few groups of three or four colors in their proper order, and even 
the proper location of these groups in the series or on the card 
was impossible. The assistant who had gone over the test 
about 3,300 times knew scarcely more about the order of the 
colors than did the subjects themselves. 

To secure effective determination to learn requires the presence 
of some aim or motive. This is, after all, the most important 

1 H. L. Hollingworth, The Influence of Caffeine on Mental and Motor 
Efficiency, 1912, p. 17. 



120 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

key to memorization. Without a motive the desired results 
will not occur, not because of an inability, but because of lack 
of desire. 

The writer recalls how stubbornly he refused to memorize "The 
Lotus Eaters" for an English teacher he disliked on the ground 
that he couldn't, whereas, at about the same time he memorized 
"The Shorter Catechism," questions and answers, from cover 
to cover, in order to earn five dollars. Teachers must present 
motives for such work. They should go farther than this and 
so develop boys and girls that they will want to memorize other 
beautiful passages (or other material), or, at least, read and enjoy 
such things for their own sakes. (This topic will be discussed 
in greater detail in Lessons 32 to 43.) 

9. One must have the "problem attitude" toward his work 
(see Lesson 9). One must believe that he can learn. Gil- 
christ^ divided a class into two sections of equal ability after 
the class had gone through a certain assignment. He then 
addressed the first section as follows: "A hasty exainination of 
the papers of the test just given shows that the members of this 
group did not do so well in the test as the average twelve year old 
child. I ask you to take the test again." The following "re- 
marks" were addressed to the second section: "A hasty examina- 
tion of the papers of the test just given shows that the members 
of this group did exceptionally well. I ask you to take the test 
again." The test was then repeated with the two sections. 

The first section actually lost 5% (the scores being 7L75 
and 68.38), whereas the second section gained 79% (the scores 
being 72.42 and 129.50). If a difference of 84% in work done 
can be secured from college students according as they are told 
they have done poorly or well, such differences in attitude must 
be constantly borne in mind })y educators. It would be far 
better to spend the class hour in securing a favorable' attitude 
than to devote it to drill when a class is "out of sorts." 

How TO Secure Efficient Reproduction 

A far more important problem than "how to memorize" is 
that of "how to secure reproduction" of that which has been 

1 E. P. Gilchrist, Satisfier versus Annoyer. School and Society, Dec. 2, 
1916, p. 872. (A mistake in the published table accounts for the difference 
in results given there and here.) 



17 HOW TO REMEMBER (CONTINUED) 121 

learned. For if an individual cannot utilize what he has learned, 
it is of httle value to him. 

We teachers teach facts all right, we form bonds connecting 
one fact with another in abundance, but we do not so teach that 
when a need arises in life for these facts there will be recalled to 
mind what was taught years before. All of us have lamented 
when it was too late. "If I had only thought of that, and I 
knew it perfectly well." Knowledge that is not used when 
needed is mighty near worthless. 

We have seen that reproduction will occur when (1) the bond is 
of sufficient strength to function and (2) the situation to which 
the response is linked is presented. The "strength of bond" 
factor must not be overlooked. We shall, however, reserve to 
Lesson 47 further discussion of this point. What can be done 
by teachers to provide for efficient reproduction in terms of the 
second factor? 

Examples of Efficient and Non-efficient Reproduction.^ — ^To 
make the second factor clearer, let us consider some cases where 
individuals did recall and also did not recall, due to the presence, 
or absence, of the necessary situation. 

1. Multiplication combinations are taught correctly in school 
to secure efficient reproduction. "4 X 9" is presented and the 
child is called on for the response. The response "36" is needed 
when "4 X 9" occurs in hfe. When the bond connecting "4 X 
9" and "36" has been sufficiently repeated, the product will be 
forthcoming whenever the situation is presented. 

2. A number of years ago a railroad engineer was examined 
in court concerning a terrible accident. The accuracy of his 
testimony depended on whether it was possible for him to have 
done as many things as he said he did in the exceedingly short 
time which it was proved had elapsed between his passing a 
signal and crashing into the other train. In his testimony he 
stated that for years he had planned what he would do in 
case of an accident. And at least once a day he had gone through 
the motions of stopping his train and doing those things needful 
in an emergency. During those years of railroading he had 
developed the necessary habits until when the emergency came 
he did what there was for him to do in an exceedingly short time. 
This is the way to train oneself to meet emergencies. 

The only way to secure efficient reproduction (proper action) 



122 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

is to do those acts themselves as responses to the situations 
which may arise. From principal to kindergartener the only 
way to prepare to react to a sudden fire is by going through the 
fire drill until it has become second nature. It does little good 
to read about how to save a person from drowning. The situa- 
tion which will confront one will be an apparently lifeless body, 
not a book, and the responses that are needful are certain move- 
ments of the hands and body, not a lecture on the subject. To 
be prepared is to have gone through the performance using a 
friend in the place of the hfeless body. 

3. The writer was told one day by a friend who was interested 
in High School physics that he did not believe 10% of a certain 
group of college students could repair their own door bell when 
it was out of order. Yet all of them had had a course in physics 
in High School including the subject of electric batteries and door 
bells. Very likely many of them could respond to the situation 
"Examination question, 'Draw a diagram showing how you would 
connect up an electric bell'" by drawing the desired diagram. 
But apparently this situation is so different from the actual situa- 
tion of finding a door bell in the kitchen, the batteries in the 
cellar, and the push-button beside the front door, that knowing 
the response to the first does not help in responding to the 
second. Of course, the responses are very different. One 
involves using a pencil and paper, the other a step-ladder, screw 
driver and knife. Training the hand to draw is not training the 
hand to turn a screw driver, etc. Undoubtedly, before we shall 
make our physics course as practical as it should be, we shall 
have to introduce real situations into its teaching. If an elec- 
tric bell circuit was set up in the laboratory and then put out of 
order and the students were called on to fix it as one of the regular 
assignments there would not be a great number of physics gradu- 
ates who could not apply their science to this life problem. 

4. Consider two advertisements that might have been included 
in Plate X. One depicts a man seated at a dining room table 
eating breakfast all alone, with a bottle of milk and a package 
of Kellogg's Corn Flakes prominently displayed. The heading 
beneath is "My wife's gone to the country." The other adver- 
tisement reproduces the statue of Venus de Milo, which occupies 
most of the page. The words "Kellogg's Corn Flakes" are 
also conspicuously present. This second advertisement will not 



17 HOW TO REMEMBER (CONTINUED) 123 

secure effective memory because it associates corn flakes with 
Venus de Milo. Such a thought does not make one want to eat 
corn flakes and when, on the other hand, one thinks of this 
famous statue, one is not in the mood or place to buy breakfast 
food. But the first advertisement is planned so as to develop 
effective memory. A husband, eating a solitary breakfast, is 
likely to have this scene flash into mind suggesting to him the 
desirability of this sort of breakfast which he can so easily get for 
himself. Or the wife, planning for her husband's breakfasts in 
her absence may have this scene come to mind and so think of 
corn flakes. In the case of either husband or wife a situation is 
presented to them which they are likely to encounter in hfe and 
the situation thus calls to mind the product. 

5. Let us consider a far more general type of behavior, where 
it is clearly impossible to connect all the situations a boy or 
girl will meet in life with the proper responses. In such cases a 
general conception has to be developed. A respect for property 
rights can be grounded on the conception that practically every- 
thing belongs to someone. This is established by leading the 
child to see the truth of it in many particular cases. The con- 
ception can further be strengthened by giving him things of his 
own and respecting his ownership of them. Such a child on en- 
countering the situation, "Money on counter. No one present," 
will not react to just those two details, but to these plus the third 
one of, "All objects belong to some one." The richer this detail 
is in meaning, i.e., the more strongly it is bound to the idea of 
leaving things alone, the more likely it is that the response to the 
money will be a reaction to the third detail and not to the first 
two. The third detail is of course supplied by the boy himself 
but it is called up by the first two due to careful training. The 
more abstract the training concerning honesty, the less, likely 
is it that the details. "Money on counter. No one present," 
will call it to mind. The more concrete the training, the more it 
has had to do with actual examples, the more likely that the 
concrete money will recall the training. Most abstractions are 
far removed from the little affairs of life. Honorable conduct 
must be developed through supplying the individual with proper 
responses to the situations which will actually confront him. 

Efficient Development of General Habits, or General Con- 
ceptions. — The habit of saying "36" upon seeing "4 X 9" is 



124 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



specific; the behavior of leaving other people's things alone is 
general. When ''courtesy/' or. "tact," or "courage" are used, 
we have in mind many habits, some of which are specific, like 
taking off one's hat to the ladies, but most are general, like saying 
inconsequential things that make people feel at home. Much of 
what is meant by " culture" is covered by general habits. These 
need to be developed in school as much as more specific ones. 

Far more stress must be placed upon the determination of what 
general conceptions are to be taught than has been done. Take 
the case of History of Education. Is this course required of 
prospective teachers in order to acquaint them with the history 



Saying alphabet forwards 




Rapid progress at start 


Saying alphabet backwandsl 




/Slower progress aftera time 


Mirror drawing \l 




// Fluctcjations 


5peed vs. accuracy \ 


1 Learning" 
Curve 


11 Plateaus 

K Accuracy V5. speed 


Effect of feelings / 


Effect of method | 




luEffect of feeling- 


Effect of attitude 1 




llEffect of method 


Learning vocabalary / 




1 Effect of attitude 


etc 




etc. 



Plate XL — -Illustrating the functioning of a "central conception." 



of educational movements or is it required in order to fit them 
to teach more efficiently? The usual text-book answers that 
the former is the aim of the course. Consequently the details 
of the course are built around such topics as, Greek Education, 
The Renaissance, Realistic Education, and the like. How many 
graduates of such courses ever use what they learned? But if 
the other aim was before the text-book writer, specific problems 
of modern education would appear as chapter headings followed 
by a presentation of the experiences of the past bearing on the 



17 HOW TO REMEMBER (CONTINUED) 125 

problem. The graduate of such a course could hardly help 
using the material in such a course because every time one of 
the problems discussed in the text was encountered, what had 
been studied would flash into mind. As it is, one does not meet 
"Renaissance" or "Realistic Education" in his daily work and 
so does not have the ideas linked to them come into mind. 

Consider in this connection the organization of this text-book. 
Over and over again you have performed experiments and plotted 
learning curves. From these curves you have learned many 
facts about the learning process, e. g., rapid progress at the start, 
slower progress after a time, fluctuations, that the shape of the 
curve tells interesting facts about the learner's previous training 
and about his natural ability, relation of progress to changes in 
method, to feeling, etc., etc. You can never again see a learning 
curve and not think many of these facts for they are connected 
with the curve. Moreover, when you see a particular curve you 
will think of those principles and facts which that curve suggests. 
In other words you have learned to understand a curve. In 
terms of the diagram (Plate XI) bonds have been formed between 
"learning curve," the central conception, and all the items to the 
right. 

But all of this is not enough, although it is just where most 
instruction stops. It is necessary that you be so taught that 
it will not be left to accident that this central conception (learning 
curve) will occur to you. For it is the key which will unlock all 
your knowledge on this subject. If it is not present you will 
probably not recall the remainder of the material. How can it 
be arranged that you will think "learning curve" when con- 
fronted by certain problems in teaching? It can be accomplished 
])y associating many such problems with "learning curve." 
You have already made such associations in the lesson on vocabu- 
lary study and on teaching the violin. 

In terms of the diagram (Plate XI) bonds have been formed 
between a variety of teaching situations and the central con- 
ception, "learning curve." 

The writer has so organized the material in this course (1) that 
many concrete cases in school room procedure have been asso- 
ciated with the learning curve and (2) that the learning curve 
has been associated with a great deal of the material in the course. 
It is impossible to connect up each detail in life with the proper 



126 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

details in this course. But you can be trained to think "learning 
curve" when confronted with a school problem and then go from 
the intermediate step (learning curve) to almost anything in this 
course. When Mary Ann does poor work you will now respond 
to "Mary Ann and her poor work" plus "learning curve," 
and then you will recall "plateaus," "attitudes," "changes in 
method," etc. Your analysis of her trouble in terms of all these 
detailed considerations will enable you to decide very much 
more wisely just what to do with her. 

Put things together in school that need to go together in daily life 
and put them together in the same way that they will occur in life. 
If the material is complex, as in this course, then select one or more 
central conceptions and connect up situations the child will meet 
in life with this central conception and also connect up the central 
conception with the facts and principles in the course. In this way 
will you provide for efficient reproduction. 



LESSON 18 

SUMMARY OF LESSONS 1 TO 17 

Components of Behavior 

Behavior can be broken up into the three components of 
Situation, Bond, and Response. 

Some Bonds are Unlearned, Others are Learned 

All acts of behavior involve a response to a situation. And 
this condition postulates the existence of a bond between situation 
and response. It is evident from the experiments which have 
been performed that bonds are formed — that at one time in a 
person's life certain bonds did not exist which later came into 
existence. Such changes are what is meant by learning — the 
development of new bonds. A still closer study of man's behav- 
ior, especially when he is an infant, leads us to reahze that there 
are some bonds which do not develop through the process of 
learning. Such bonds develop naturally: just as naturally as 
do man's teeth, hair, blood vessels, or digestive system. Situa- 
tion-bond-response combinations which develop naturally are 
referred to as reflexes or instincts. Combinations, on the other 
hand, which are acquired through learning are termed habits. 
(To be discussed further in Lessons 31 to 37.) 

Reflexes and Instincts. — A reflex is an act in which there is a 
simple stimulus as the cause of the excitation followed by a 
simple response, the bond or connection between sense-organ 
and muscle being unlearned. Reflex acts are such as jerking 
the hand away from a hot stove, winking when an object suddenly 
comes toward us, coughing when the throat is irritated, etc. An 
instinctive act, on the other hand, is one in which there is a 
more complex situation, ordinarily, followed by a more complex 
response, the bond being also unlearned. Instincts would be 
illustrated by such behavior as a mother's reaction to her baby's 
cry, fear and flight from a large animal, a boy's interest in girls, 
etc. 

127 



128 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

The most important point to note in all these cases is that the 
response is always one that is made naturally without any 
training. In other words, the bond connecting situation and 
response is unlearned. This means that nervous connections 
are already formed between sense-organs and muscles, so that 
when man is confronted with certain situations he responds auto- 
matically, immediately and without conscious guidance. 

There can be no sharp line of demarcation drawn between 
reflexes and instincts any more than there can be a sharp division 
of all men into the two groups of short and tall men. Some men 
are undoubtedly short or tall, just as some unlearned perform- 
ances are clearly reflexes or instincts. But most men are neither 
decidedly short nor tall. In the same way most unlearned per- 
formances can be classified either as reflexes or instincts depend- 
ing upon the definitions set up. In a general way, reflexes are 
simple acts, involving little or no consciousness of what is being 
done and seemingly carried on by only a part of oneself, as the 
hand, eye, etc. Instincts are more complex, consciousness is 
involved, and I feel that I myself am involved, as when I pet a 
baby, or run from a bull, or get interested in a girl. 

Habits. — On the other hand, habits are situation-bond- 
response combinations which have been developed through 
training. At one time there was no bond. Unless such new 
bonds were formed man would not advance beyond the limits 
of his reflexive and instinctive equipment. 



Learning and Forgetting 

Learning consists in the formation of bonds between situations 
and responses and the strengthening of the bonds so that they 
function more efficiently. Forgetting is the opposite of learning; 
it is the effect of bonds becoming weaker and weaker until they 
no longer function. A somewhat similar effect is produced 
through interference. Freud claims that forgetting is also due 
to the fact that we want to forget, because the memory is unpleas- 
ant. It is for this cause, he says, that we forget a troublesome 
engagement. This type of forgetting may possibly be explained 
as due to interference. Take the case of the boy who is told 
that when he comes home he is to chop wood. There is here 



18 SUMMARY OF LESSONS 1 TO 17 129 

interference between spending the afternoon chopping wood and 
playing football. The latter is the stronger response due to 
habit and interest, and so "interferes" with the other response. 
Most failures to chop wood are sheer disobedience, but sometimes 
Freud is correct in saying that the duty is actually forgotten. 

The Laws of Learning 

The laws of learning are the laws as to the formation; strength- 
ening, and reorganizing, of bonds. For example: There is 
rapid movement at first with less and less improvement as 
practice continues; improvement is never continuous — there are 
always fluctuations in the curve of learning; under certain condi- 
tions plateaus develop — periods of no apparent improvement; 
and there is a limit to improvement (physiological limit) beyond 
which we cannot go, but whicli is practically never reached, due 
to lack of sufficiently strenuous practice. 

Learning may be considered in terms of: (1) The formation of 
new bonds, (2) the reorganization of situation-bond-response 
combinations, and (3) the strengthening of bonds. 

Formation of New Bonds 

A new bond is formed through trial and error or stimulus 
substitution. 

Trial and error learning occurs when the response that is 
desired (1) is not connected to any stimulus at all, (2) is not 
connected to any element in the situation, or at least to any 
potent element in the situation and (3) is a complex response and 
the proper sequence or coordination of movements is not known. 

There are very few examples of the first case where there is no 
stimulus connected with the desired response. Learning to wag 
one's ears is, however, one example. Here there actually exist 
motor nerves running to the muscles that move the ears but there 
is no stimulus that will set off the movement. As the movement 
has never been made, one does not know what it is. And it is 
difficult to ascertain from watching our own performance in a 
mirror when we have really made the movement we have seen 
another make. For sometimes we move our ears ])ut also our 
whole scalp, or the side of our face. The latter element we do 

9 



130 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

not want. To acquire this stunt means that we must just keep 
trying and trying. Because of the phenomenon of overflow of 
energy (Lesson 9), eventually this little-used pathway to the ear 
muscles becomes well used and under conscious control. 

The tri-trix puzzle, (see Plate XII), illustrates the second 
case, where the desired response is not set off by the situation. 
One accordingly makes all manner of random movements in the 
endeavor to get the four shots into the four outer holes, and 
usually does not succeed. But if one gets in some way or other 
the idea of whirhng the puzzle, it is solved. The random move- 




Plate XII.— The tri-trix puzzle. It is solved when all four shot are rolled into 
the four outer holes. 

ments occur because no element in the situation sets off this 
necessary response of spinning. One of the important functions 
of teaching is to eliminate useless trial-and-error learning by so 
manipulating the situation as to have before the learner those 
elements which lead him to act as desired. The student of this 
text, for example, has learned a great deal from the experiments 
that he has had to perform and he has learned it with a minimum 
of trial and error. 

In the third case the learner may have at his disposal all the 
habits necessary to perform the act but because he does not know 
the proper sequence or coordination of the several habits he is 
forced to resort to trial-and-error learning. This is true in all 
cases of acquiring skill, whether of handwriting, skating, driving 
an automobile, using tools, or what not. A simple example may 



18 SUMMARY OF LESSONS 1 TO 17 131 

be found in the mirror-drawing experiment. Take the one 
movement of tracing a line that appears in the mirror to go away 
from the body, diagonally to the right. And, to make the case 
still simpler, suppose that the learner knows that he must draw 
toward his body when the direction appears to be away from the 
body and that he must draw to the right when the direction 
appears to the right. Even then he will have to try and try 
before he will develop just the proper coordination of movements 
that are necessary to make the compound movement. But his 
random movements will be very slight as compared with one 
who does not understand the two components that make up his 
task. Here again it is the function of the teacher to eliminate 
as much trial and error learning as possible by leading the student 
to analyze his problem into its elements and work out the response 
to the elements one at a time. But no teacher can entirely 
eliminate random movements, for coordination comes only that 
way. 

Stimulus Substitution. — ^New bonds can also be formed 
through stimulus substitution. In such cases there are present 
simultaneously, or in immediate succession, two stimuli followed 
by their responses. Repetition results in a bond being formed 
between Si and R2, also between S2 and Ri. Which of these two 
new bonds is primarily developed depends upon the set or attitude 
of the learner. (Refer to Lesson 11 for further discussion.) 



Reorganization of Bonds 

Here we are concerned primarily, not with the formation of 
new bonds, but in their rearrangement into new combinations. 
Most learning in school belongs here, particularly in the upper 
grades. From the standpoint of the results, three types of 
reorganization may be distinguished: i. e., (1) linking elements 
together through the use of old bonds (associative shifting), (2) 
short-circuiting, and (3) integration. 

Associative shifting has been discussed in Lesson 11. Another 
example besides hund-hound-dog is the learning of an automobile 
license number, as, for example, 149,002 by associating it with 
the date Columbus discovered America with two (the same num- 
ber as the last one in the license number) zeros before the 



132 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

2. The whole process of thinking is largely a manipulating of 
associations that come to mind one after the other. 

Short-circuiting can be illustrated in the case of saying the 
alphabet backwards. One individual's associations in response 
to the instructions to recite the alphabet backwards were: 
"last letter in alphabet"— "z"—" next to last letter"— "y"— 
"letter before y" — "xyz" — "letter before x" — "rstuvwx" — 
"w"— "rstuvw"— "v"— "rstuv"— "v," etc. As repetition 
after repetition continued the unnecessary steps were eliminated, 
or short-circuited, until finally the alphabet was recited back- 
wards without a break. The above steps came to mind through 
associative shifting — through utilizing already existing bonds. 
The short-circuiting can be partly explained in terms of stimulus 
substitution as follows: — ■ 

Situation Response 
w=— : >rstuvw 



^v 

vc:;::;;- >rstuv 

rstiiv ^^^ >\i 

The repetition of almost any performance results in short- 
circuiting the unnecessary steps. And most of the improvement 
takes place without any consciousness of the changes. These 
changes are all the more likely to occur if we are attempting to 
improve the quality of the work or to cut down the time of 
doing it. If we are making no such effort, a minimum of short- 
circuiting results. 

Integrations. — This topic is discussed later in Lesson 45. A 
simple illustration of what is meant by the term is sufficient at 
this point. A child develops certain responses to the sight of 
an apple, to the feel of it in his hands, to the smell of it, to the 
taste of it, and to the sound of eating it. As all these various 
stimuli and their responses occur together, the child develops 
many fusions of them whereby, if he sees, for example, the apple, 
he may react as though he had not only seen it, but had felt it, 
smelt it, tasted it, or had heard someone crunching it. One 
stimulus arouses in this way a complex response. The reader's 
response to "learning curve" is now a response that is an inte- 
gration of many separate responses which have been more or 
less welded into one complete conception of the sul)ject. 



18 SUMMARY OF LESSONS 1 TO 17 133 

The Strengthening of Bonds 

Bonds are strengthened by repetition, intensity, and the effect 
of satisfaction. They are weakened by lapse of time, interfer- 
ence, and the effect of dissatisfaction. 

Efficient Memory 

Efficient memory is dependent upon bonds sufficiently strong 
to function and the connecting up of what is to be remembered 
with situations that will occur when the response is desired. 

What the Learning Process Means to Education 

Evidently, learning is connecting. It is the forming of a ])ond 
between a situation and a response; the development of a habit. 
Clearly also, early in life the new connections will be slight modi- 
fications of reflex and instinctive actions; later the new connec- 
tions may join great groups of complex habits together into such 
complicated processes as playing the piano or solving an original 
in geometry. 

Teaching is, then, the manipulation of the details making up 
the situations which confront children so that as they respond they 
will constantly form new habits and, moreover, habits that are 
desirable ones. If the desired responses are new ones for the child 
then the learning must be of the " trial-and-error " type. But 
if the desired reponse is one that is already a response to another 
situation the new situation and old response can be connected 
together through associative shifting. For example, take the 
case of a boy learning to climb over a wooden fence. If he goes 
at it alone it will be largely a matter of "trial-and-error," because 
he will not analyze the entire performance into parts each of 
which he is already capable of doing. But if one who under- 
stands the movements to be made stands by and calls out 
"Now climb the ladder" he will make the movements previously 
associated with climbing a ladder. "Now put one leg over the 
top," he will respond by throwing one leg over the top board, as 
he has often done in climbing out of his crib. "Now cross 
your hands," "Now put the other leg over," "Now face me," 
"Now climb down," he will climb over the fence in a fairly smooth 



134 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

and efficient way the first time. He does so because he has util- 
ized old responses, one at a time, and he has utilized them because 
the old situations connected with them have been presented by 
the parent in the proper sequence. A little practice, then, results 
in connecting all of these responses together in a string just as 
the responses in saying each letter of the alphabet are connected 
together. 

In what has gone before we have obtained a general conception 
of the learning process and of the mechanism by which situations 
become linked up with responses. In the lessons to follow we 
shall take up the matter of learning in greater detail. But the 
whole subject centers about this main theme just expressed, that 
the child's learning is conditioned by the skill the teacher displays 
in presenting situations to him. Lessons are difficult or easy 
depending not on the material of the lesson, ordinarily, but upon 
the order of presentation of the details in the lesson — an order 
depending upon what habits the child has already acquired. 

Learning the characteristics of the learning process, as you 
are doing in this course, can be made by any particular author 
to fit any one of the types of learning. He can supply you with 
every detail in one, two, three order and expect you to memorize 
the material and through drill have you recite it as glibly as you 
do the alphabet. Or he can assign very indefinite problems and 
leave you to discover the elements and their order of relationship. 
The former, however, will not result in your obtaining a workable 
use of the material : the latter will take too long and is too dis- 
couraging, although if you do learn this way you have a wonderful 
grasp of the subject. Consequently, the present author prefers 
to introduce each topic by way of an experiment whereby you will 
have to work out the answers yourself. Then to follow the experi- 
ment with a discussion so that missing material may be identified 
and learned and the relationship of the various parts fully 
comprehended. 



LESSON 19 

MEASURING DIFFERENCES OF PERFORMANCE AMONG 
INDIVIDUALS— THE AVERAGE DEVIATION 

The general characteristics of learning have now been pre- 
sented. Differences between individuals have so far been ignored 
in our eagerness to discover the common principles found true 
of all individuals. 

It is important to stop now and resurvey some of our material 
to see to what extent individuals are alike and to what extent 
they are different, and in what the differences consist. 

In order to make these studies effectively it is necessary to 
become familiar with three mathematical conceptions, known as 
the "average deviation" (discussed in this lesson), the "normal 
curve of distribution" (Lesson 24), and the "coefficient of corre- 
lation" (Lesson 28). 

All of these conceptions are basic to modern psychology, as 
well as to biology, sociology, economics, education, etc., and are 
worth understanding for their own sake, as well as for their use 
as tools in applying scientific principles to everyday problems. 



The Average Deviation 

Two fourth grade classes (A and B) were given the same test. 
The scores of the forty students were as follows : 



135 



136 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



Class A 


Class B 


Pupils 


Grades 


Pupils 


Grades 


1 


90 


21 


87 


2 


88 


22 


80 


3 


SO 


23 


74 


4 


SO 


24 


73 


5 


68 


25 


64 


6 


68 


26 


63 


7 


60 


27 


58 


8 


60 


28 


57 


9 


56 


29 


56 


10 


56 


30 


55 


11 


52 


31 


53 


12 


52 


32 


52 


13 


44 


33 


46 


14 


40 


34 


43 


15 


36 


35 


41 


16 


36 


36 


40 


17 


24 


37 


32 


18 


24 


38 


31 


19 


24 


39 


30 


20 


16 


40 


25 


Total 


1060 




1060 


Average 


53 




53 



When we average the twenty grades in each class we find the 
averages are the same, i. e., 53. But when we look over the scores 
we discover immediately that the two classes are not equal in 
performance. Class A has two students superior to any in 
Class B and four students inferior to the poorest in Class B. 
As far as this particular test is concerned it shows that the stu- 
dents in Class A are more unlike among themselves than are the 
students in Class B. In other words, there are greater differ- 
ences in ability in Class A than Class B. 

Such differences in ability in classes form an important con- 
sideration in the administration of a school. For the more 
homogeneous a class, the easier it is to handle. One of the duties 
of a principal is to assign pupils so as to have the smallest differ- 
ences possible in a class. We shall come to appreciate this point 
more fully in the next few lessons. 



19 MEASURING DIFFERENCES OF PERFORMANCE 137 

It is clear that to state that Classes A and B have the same 
average is not sufficient. The total grades tell us another 
important point. But it is extremely awkward to have to 
reproduce in a report all of the grades of the pupils. Is there not 
some short-cut method by which these individual differences 
can be expressed? 

It is just this that the ''average deviation" gives us. It is a 
measurement used as a supplement to the average in studying 
individual differences. This measurement means exactly what 
the two words imply — the average amount of difference of the 
individuals making up the group from the average of the group 
as a whole. Consider carefully how it is obtained in the follow- 
ing examples (Table II). First, the average of the figures them- 
selves is obtained. Second, the difference between the average 
and each separate figure is obtained. Third, the average of these 
differences or deviations is obtained. This is the average devia- 
tion (A. D.). 

Knowing the average for each class and the average deviations, 
i. e., 

Class A— Average 53, A. D. 18.2 
Class B— Average 53, A. D. 13.7 

we can readily determine, if we do not have the original data, that 
there was a very great variation in the individuals. But of the 
two classes Class B is more homogeneous. We know now for 
certain that the average does not represent what all twenty 
pupils did. Far from it. Some must have varied above and 
below 53 by more than 18.2 (or in Class B more than 13.7) in 
order that the average of all the deviations should be 18.2. 

It is mathematically true that very few cases will ever differ 
from the average by more than three times the A. D. For 
example, it is unlikely we would have pupils in Class A with 
grades higher than 53 + (3 X 18.2) or 107.6, or lower than 53- 
(3 X 18.2) or -1.6; and in Class B higher than 53 + (3 X 13.7) 
or 94.1, or lower than 53 - (3 X 13.7), or 11.9. In these 
particular classes we do not have any cases varying as much as 
these limits. 



138 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



Table II. — Illustrating the Method of Obtaining the Average 
Deviation (A. D.) 

The left hand of the table illustrates the work, involved in obtaining the 
A. D. of the grades of the 20 pupils in Class A, while the right half of the 
table shows similarly the work involved in obtaining the A. D. grades in 
Class B. 



Class A 


Class B 


Pupils 


Scores 


Differences 


Pupils 


Scores 


Differences 


1 


96 


96 - 53 = 43 


21 


87 


87 - 53 = 34 


2 


88 


88 - 53 = 35 


22 


80 


80 - 53 = 27 


3 


80 


80 - 53 = 27 


23 


74 


74 - 53 = 21 


4 


80 


80 - 53 = 27 


24 


73 


73 - 53 = 20 


5 


68 


68 - 53 = 15 


25 


64 


64 - 53 = 11 


6 


68 


68 - 53 = 15 


26 


63 


63 - 53 = 10 


7 


60 


60 - 53 = 7 


27 


58 


58 - 53 = 5 


8 


60 


60 - 53 = 7 


28 


57 


57 - 53 = 4 


9 


56 


56 - 53 = 3 


29 


56 


56 - 53 = 3 


10 


56 


56 - 53 = 3 


30 


55 


55 - 53 = 2 


11 


52 


53 - 52 = 1 


31 


53 


53 - 53 = 


12 


52 


53 - 52 = 1 


32 


52 


53 - 52 = 1 


13 


44 


53 _ 44 = 9 


33 


46 


53 _ 46 = 7 


14 


40 


53 - 40 = 13 


34 


43 


53 - 43 = 10 


15 


36 


53 - 36 = 17 


35 


41 


53 - 41 = 12 


16 


36 


53 - 36 = 17 


36 


40 


53 - 40 = 13 


17 


24 


53 - 24 = 29 


37 


32 


53 - 32 = 21 


18 


24 


53 - 24 = 29 


38 


31 


53 - 31 = 22 


19 


24 


53 - 24 = 29 


39 


30 


53 - 30 = 23 


20 


16 


53 - 16 = 37 


40 


25 


53 - 25 = 28 


Total. . . 


1060 


364 




1060 


274 


Av 


53 


18.2 




53 


13.7 


The A. r 

the dii 


). is 18.2- 

[ferences ( 


-the average of 
deviations). 


The A. . 

the c 


D. is 13.7 
lifferences 


— the average of 
(deviations). 



Problems 

Find the A. D. of the grades in the following classes: 

1. Class C is composed of pupils 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19 in 
Class A given above. 

2. Class D is composed of pupils 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20. 

3. Class E is composed of pupils 1 to 5, and 16 to 20. 

4. Class F is composed of pupils to 15, inclusive. 



19 MEASURING DIFFERENCES OF PERFORMANCE 139 

Check your answers with the instructor at the next class-hour. If 
incorrect spend part of that hour making sure you understand how to 

get an A. D. , . i v. 

Note.— Bring coordinate paper with you to the next class-hour. 



LESSON 20 

HOW DO INDIVIDUALS DIFFER IN LEARNING MIRROR- 
DRAWING? 

We have so far studied a number of learning curves. We have 
discovered some general facts about the process of learning — ■ 
about, the process of learning taken on the average. But it is 
worth while to stop and consider whether all individuals learn in 
the same way. 

We know that people differ. We know that they differ in the 
way they do a certain lesson, that they differ in the time it takes 
them to learn the lesson, in the way they answer questions 
about the lesson, etc. We know some get good marks and some 
get poor marks. Why are there all these differences? What 
are the causes of individual differences? 

Let us consider just one of these problems. Let us study the 
data from 10 individuals in the mirror-drawing experiment and 
see in what respects they are alike and in what respects they are 
different. 

Below are given the results of ten individuals (called A to J) in 
the mirror-drawing experiment. The records are a combination 
of their time and error data. Endeavor to discover by yourself, 
together with the help of your partner, as many ways as you can 
in which these records are (1) ahke and (2) different. That is, 
exactly what are the characteristics which are common to the 
learning of these ten individuals and, on the other hand, in what 
respects do the records of their learning differ? 

The Use of Tables of Statistics versus Curves.- — ^When confronted 
with many figures- as in Table III, one should endeavor by some 
means or other to present them in a diagram or set of curves. 
No one can grasp the significance of a complex set of figures 
from studying the figures themselves with anywhere near the 
ease that he can from seeing those same figures set forth in 
curves. In general, curves should be used for discovering or for 
presenting general relationships, while tables should be used 
when the facts need to be ascertained very accurately. 

140 



20 



HOW DO INDIVIDUALS DIFFER IN LEARNING? 141 



Table III. — Records of Ten Different Individuals (A — J) in Mirror- 
drawing Experiment^ 



Trials 


A 


B 


C 


D 


E 


F 


G 


H 

1 


I 


J 


Aver- 
age 


1 


232 


76 


210 


363 


216 


286 


283 


701 


129 


131 


263 


2 


193 


77 


152 


167 


147 


144 


148 


184 


94 


90 


140 


3 


157 


80 


115 


128 


160 


109 


69 


148 


98 


75 


114 


4 


115 


68 


108 


143 


113 


141 


66 


144 


91 


67 


106 


5 


133 


70 


108 


132 


110 


97 


76 


98 


84 


75 


98 


6 


88 


57 


115 


125 


103 


99 


59 


90 


69 


64 


87 


7 


87 


65 


96 


121 


90 


97 


50 


87 


67 


67 


83 


8 


90 


62 


92 


149 


91 


111 


53 


81 


75 


51 


86 


9 


102 


65 


62 


140 


92 


101 


48 


79 


70 


49 


81 


10 


88 


54 


71 


121 


75 


89 


56 


72 


55 


49 


73 


11 


102 


59 


68 


121 


90 


115 


56 


71 


66 


51 


80 


12 


88 


63 


59 


112 


74 


87 


51 


58 


57 


55 


70 


13 


87 


51 


56 


95 


64 


90 


50 


63 


55 


47 


66 


14 


79 


57 


58 


95 


70 


87 


44 


56 


59 


46 


65 


15 


89 


53 


60 


86 


75 


81 


43 


55 


59 


38 


64 


IG 


64 


48 


55 


114 


59 


84 


38 


54 


51 


44 


61 


17 


G8 


46 


61 


100 


62 


81 


36 


54 


59 


43 


61 


18 


71 


37 


53 


116 


59 


71 


43 


62 


54 


30 


60 


19 


55 


49 


42 


122 


51 


69 


40 


53 


52 


31 


56 


20 


01 


50 


58 


85 


52 


70 


35 


60 


40 


36 


55 



• The Assignment 

First of all, then, plot the ten sets of figures. Two or three 
curves can be drawn on the same sheet of paper. 

Now from a study of your curves and your table ascertain 
whether all ten agree or disagree on the following points: 

1. Do they show improvement with practice? 

2. Do they show the same initial efficiency? 

3. Do they show the same final efficiency? 

1 The data presented here were actually obtained from ten individuals. 
The individuals have been so selected, however, that the conclusions 
obtained from these data will agree very closely with similar calculations 
based on a study of 56 individuals. The averages obtained from 56 men 
and women are respectively :— 242, 159, 137, 120, 114, 99, 94, 86, 88, 83 
79, 76, 74, 74, 70, 70, 68, 64, 64, 63. 

Each figure represents the time consumed in doing the drawing plus the, 
number of errors that were made in that drawing. 



142 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

4. Is a greater gain made during the first five trials than during 

the last five? 

5. Is progress regular or irregular? 

6. Do all curves show an equal gain? 

Back up each of your assertions with proof from your data. 

Second, if we should arrange the ten individuals according to 
their initial ability in this performance we would have them in 
this order: B(76), 1(129), J(131), C(210), E(216), A(232), 
G(283), F(286), D(363), and H(701). Copy this order onto a 
sheet of paper so that the letters will appear in a column one 
under the other. Now arrange the ten individuals according to 
their final ability in this performance in a similar column. Study 
the relationship between the two columns of letters and then 
decide whether individuals who are best at the start are best at 
the end or not. Does your conclusion hold good for all ten or 
for only the majority? If you have exceptions to your rule, can 
you explain why there should be these exceptions? Make a 
further comparison (a) between the order of proficiency at the 
start and the order at the tenth trial, and (b) between the order 
at the tenth trial and the order at the last trial. 

Do you think that B, who is best at the start and fourth at the 
end, and I, who was second at the start and third at the end, will 
do better, equal to, or poorer than D and H in arithmetic, geog- 
raphy, running a grocery store, or driving a plow? Explain. 
What significance, if any, do you think there is in the superiority 
of B and I over D and H in this performance? How would G 
compare in these respects with the four (i. e., B, I, D and H)? 

Hand in your report at the next class-hour, written up in the 
usual manner. 



LESSON 21 

INTRODUCTION TO THE GENERAL SUBJECT OF 
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 

Individuals differ very materially with respect to every human 
trait. If we compare them with respect to height, or weight, or 
muscular strength, or lung capacity, or eyesight, or hearing, or 
color of hair, or spelling ability, or musical ability, or inventive 
power, or any other trait, we find that they all differ from one 
another in these respects. When one is at first confronted with 
all these differences one is very apt to become utterly confused 
and feel that there is no order at all in this chaos of human differ- 
ences. The person who is the tallest is not always the heaviest. 
In fact, he may be very thin and weigh comparatively little. 
The person who has the best eyesight may have any color of hair 
and may have very good or very poor hearing. The musician 
may also be a poet or he may be unable to express himself very 
clearly in any way except on his musical instrument. 

Still as we progress in our study of these differences we come to 
see that all is not chaos, that there is some system underlying the 
matter. As yet science has worked out but few of the great 
laws involved. But a start has been made, and already we have 
been helped in understanding the peculiarities of our friends and 
pupils. 

There is no more important subject for the teacher in psy- 
chology than this subject of individual differences. If we were 
all alike then teaching would be a comparatively easy subject. 
We would need to know just the physical, mental, and moral 
dimensions and requirements of the standard and then devise 
one set of methods which would fit in every case and inevitably 
produce good spellers, writers, etc. But people are not alike. 
And this fact means that no one method will work with every 
individual. Methods of teaching when applied to certain 

143 



144 INTRODUCTORY PSYCPIOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

children will produce the desired result and when applied to 
other children will produce no result worth while or possibly 
just the opposite result from that desired. Undoubtedly some 
of the children who fail in the 4th Grade fail because the wrong 
methods were applied to them. If other methods had been 
applied some of these failures would have succeeded but, on the 
other hand, some of those who succeeded would then have 
failed. What is needed today is that teachers become expert in 
understanding the differences in children and so be able to apply 
intelligently varying methods to varying needs. Without doubt 
the teacher of the future is going to become a diagnostician in 
much the same way that a physician is. The latter studies 
symptoms, diagnoses the diseases, prescribes the treatment, and 
if he is fortunate directs that treatment until the patient is 
cured. The teacher of the future will be one who will understand 
the peculiarities of children and on the basis of these peculiarities 
or differences diagnose the reason as to why the child is not 
developing properl}?^, prescribe the treatment, and carry it out 
to a successful end. This is exactly what is now being attempted 
in our special classes for the defective. And although possibly 
it is easier to do this with defectives than with normal children, 
yet society cannot permit the poorest and most worthless one- 
tenth of our children to have a better type of teaching than that 
given to the remainder, who will have to carry not only their 
own burdens, but also a large share of the burdens of the defective 
class. 

Now let us turn and consider such facts and principles as we 
can discover concerning individual differences. 

Individual Differences, Based on Mirror-drawing 
Experiment 

It is clear from a study of the learning curves of the ten indi- 
viduals recorded in Lesson 20 that they all agree in that: — 

1. They show improvement with practice. 

2. They make greater gain at the start than at the end of the 
practice. 

3. They progress irregularly, i. e., they do not always advance 
but sometimes do more poorly than in the preceding trial. We 
shall find after studying many examples of learning that these 



21 INTRODUCTION TO INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 115 

three facts remain true. Even though individuals differ tre- 
mendously, yet they do not differ as regards these respects. 
Continued practice does produce improvement in a performance in 
the long run, hut it may not he apparent when two or three or even 
more successive trials are alone compared. Improvement is also 
greater at the start of practice than at the end. 

On the other hand, individuals differ as regards: — 

1. Initial efficiency. 

2. Final efficiency. 

3. Amount of improvement. 

This is clear from the data in Table III. It will be found to be 
true when any set of data is studied. 

The Use of the Average as a Measure of a Group 

We can obtain an average from the records of a large or small 
number of individuals. Such an average record is given in the 
last column of Table III. When we study this average record 
from ten individuals we realize that it is an expression of the 
entire ten records. But it is not typical of what any one person 
would do. No one of the ten did the mirror-drawing in 263 
units (of time and accuracy combined). The nearest to this 
record was G, who did the experiment in 283 units, differing 
thereby from the average by 20 units. On the other hand, B 
(the best of the ten) beat this average by 187 units, and H (the 
poorest of the ten) was poorer than the average by 438 units. 
Clearly a great many interesting facts are covered up or lost by 
referring to the average as an expression of what this group of 
ten individuals could do. By knowing only that the group 
averaged 263 units for its first trial we would have no knowledge 
of how much the ten had differed or varied from each other. 

We have come also to realize that any individual learning 
curve is not perfectly smooth but has a great variety of 
fluctuations in it. In other words, although a person may be 
progressing, his successive performances may not necessarily show 
this. Sometimes he gains, sometimes he loses, but on the whole 
he is advancing. Now our average record of the ten individuals 
in the mirror-drawing experiment is singularly free from such 
fluctuations. Only twice does the curve rise (show decrease in 
efficiency) and then only for slight amounts. From a study of 

10 



146 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

the average curve we would be led to the false notion that 
improvement is very steady and even. But such, we reahze, 
is not the case. Evidently, then, the average, although very 
useful, is not a sufficient measure of a class performance to tell 
us all that we need to know about that class. 

Consider another example taken from a survey of the Demon- 
stration School of George Peabody College for Teachers.* 

All of the children in Grades IV to VIII were tested with the 
Kansas Silent Reading Test. This test consists of a number of 
paragraphs like the following : — 

No. 1 
Value The air near the ceiling of a room is warm, while that on the 
1 . floor is cold. Two boys are in the room, James on the floor and 
Harry on a box eight feet high. Which boy has the warmer place? 



No. 2 
Value If gray is darker than white and black is darker than gray, what 
1.3 color of those named in this sentence is lighter than gray? 



No. 3 
Value We can see through glass, so we call it transparent. We cannot 
1 . 6 see through iron, so we call it opaque. Is black ink opaque, or is it 
transparent? 



The children are allowed five minutes in which to read over as 
many of these paragraphs as they can and to execute the direc- 
tions in each. They are scored in terms of the paragraphs to 
which they have correctly reacted, each paragraph counting 
proportionately to its determined difficulty or value. 

In Table IV are presented the average scores of the five grades, 
together with the norms for those grades. A norm is a standard 
set for a grade after testing thousands of children so as to know 
exactly what the average is. From these figures it is clear that 
with respect to this method of testing silent reading the children 
in the five grades are superior to children throughout the country 

1 C. C. Denny. The Peabody Demonstration School in the Light of Standard 
Tests. Unpublished thesis in the library of George Peabody College for 
Teachers. 



21 INTRODUCTION TO INDIVIDUiVL DIFFERENCES 147 

as in all the grades except VII the average of the grade is superior 
to the norm and in Grade VII the figures are equal to the norm. 

Table IV. — Average Scores and Norms, Grades IV to VIII 

Kansas Silent Reading Scale 
Grades IV V VI VII VIII 

Averages 13.0 15.7 16.8 16.5 23.4 

Norms 9.4 13.4 13.8 16.5 19.2 

As has been said the averages "show the school to be in most 
excellent condition." However, if this is all that the class-room 
teacher is to learn from the test, the very knowledge that should 
enable her to give her pupils, as individuals, the best possible 
instruction will have been missed. The scores, in rank order, of 
all the pupils in the various grades are shown in Table V. The 
data given in this table show some astounding individual differ- 
ences. For instance, the lowest score in the fourth grade is less 
than one-sixth of the highest score in the same grade; 60% of all 
the pupils in the fourth grade made a better score than the poorest 
score in the eighth grade; 17% of all the pupils in the fourth 
grade made a better score than the norm for the eighth grade; 
while all the pupils, except six, in the fourth grade made a better 
score than the lowest score in the seventh grade. In general, the 
highest score made in each grade is approximately 200% of the 
norm for that grade; while in three grades, IV, V, and VII, the 
lowest score is less than half the norm. 

"Since reading is fundamental and basic to most of the other 
studies in the school, this wide variation in individual scores 
indicates the complexity of the problem confronting the class- 
room teacher. Why did the poorest fourth grade pupil make 
only a score of 3.9, and the best one make 24? Is one endowed 
by nature with six times as much reading power as the other? 
Did the form and manner of instruction in reading fit one six 
times as well as the other? Or is the wide difference due to other 
causes? The facts of Table V raise innumerable administrative 
problems. If the school is to be organized so that each indi- 
vidual pupil may get greatest good from the instruction given, 
teacher, principal, superintendent, school board, and community 
must realize this wide variation and cooperate in the organization 
and administration of a system which takes individual differences 
into consideration." 



148 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



Table V. — Individual Scores by Rank Order, Grades IV to VIII 

Kansas Silent Reading Test 

Grades 



Pupil 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


1 


24.0 


28.1 


34.6 


32.6 


34.6 


2 


21.7 


■ 25.4 


32.2 


28.3 


34.6 


3 


20.3 


23.3 


26.3 


24.1 


31.6 


4 


19.9 


22.3 


24.0 


22.3 


31.6 


5 


19.7 


22.3 


23.4 


21.3 


30.3 


6 


18.4 


21.4 


22.5 


20.7 


28.3 


7 


1G.7 


21.4 


22.3 


20.0 


27.3 


8 


16.7 


19.7 


21.0 


19.3 


26.3 


9 


15.5 


19.3 


20.1 


18.5 


22.3 


10 


15.1 


18.4 


19.1 


17,7 


21.7 


11 


15.0 


18.3 


18.4 


17,7 


20,7 


12 


14.8 


17.3 


18.1 


17.7 


19.7 


13 


14.4 


17.1 


17.5 


17.4 


18.6 


14 


13.4 


16.1 


16.1 


17.1 


18.4 


15 


13.1 


16.1 


14.8 


16.1 


15.4 


16 


12.8 


15.8 


14.8 


15.8 


13.8 


17 


12.8 


15.4 


14.4 


15.7 


13.0 


18 


12.5 


13.4 


14.4 


15.1 


12.3 


19 


11.3 


13.4 


14.3 


14.1 




20 


11.2 


12.9 


13.8 


13.2 




•21 


10.4 


12.6 


13.5 


11.5 




22 


9.0 


12.4 


13.4 


11.2 




23 


9.0 


12.4 


13.2 


10.6 




24 


8.9 


12.2 


12,8 


10.6 




25 


6.2 


11.7 


11.1 


8.8 




26 


6.2 


10.6 


10.9 


8.8 




27 


6.2 


10.6 


10.7 


8.8 




28 


6.2 


8.9 


9.1 


8.1 




29 


5.7 


8.7 


8.5 






30 


3.9 


8.5 


8.4 






31 




8.5 


8.1 






32 




6.3 








Average 


13.0 


15.7 


16,8 


16.5 


23.4 



The Use of the A. D. as a Measuee of Individual 
Differences 

We have seen thus far that the average is not a sufficient 
measure for presenting the proficiency of a group of individuals. 



21 INTRODUCTION TO INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 149 

And in Lesson 19 some of the advantages of the average deviation 
were presented. The subject warrants further consideration. 

The average of the initial trials in the case of the ten individuals 
recorded in Table III is 263; the average deviation is 118. The 
average of the final trials is 55 and the average deviation 12. 
Knowing the A. D. as well as the average for the initial and final 
trials in the mirror-drawing experiment we can readily determine, 
if we do not have the original data, that there was a very great 
variation in the individuals at the start, and still considerable 
difference in their proficiency at the end of the practice. We 
know that the ten individuals differed on the average 118 units 
from the average of 263 units. We know now for certain that 
the average does not represent what all ten individuals did. 
Far from it. Some must have varied above and below 263 by 
more than 118 in order that the average of all the deviations 
should be 118. On the other hand we can tell, by knowing that 
the final trial averaged 55 with an A. D, of 12, that the ten must 
all be fairly close to the average, probably none varying more 
than three times the A. D. or by more than 36. That is, no 
record would probably be better than 19 (55 — 36) or poorer 
than 91 (55 + 36). (As an actual fact among 56 men and 
women the best record has been 33 (55 — 2 times the A. D.) 
and the poorest was 118 (55 + 5 times the A. D.). But there 
are only two records in the 56 which are poorer than three times 
the A. D. (i. e., 91) — one being the 118 already referred to and 
the other being 93.) 

In a similar way the A. D. may be determined for the data in 
Table V concerning the silent reading ability of children in the 
five grades. We then have: — 

Av. Score, Silent Reading Grade IV 13,0 A. D. 4.2 

Av. Score, Silent Reading Grade V 15.7 A. D. 4. 5 

Av. Score, Silent Reading Grade VI IG.S A. D. 5. 3 

Av. Score, Silent Reading Grade VII 16.5 A. D. 4. 5 

Av. Score, Silent Reading Grade VIII 23.4 A. D. 6.4 

The presence of these average deviations helps us considerably 
in estimating how much the various children in the two classes 
differ from their average. 

The more one uses this measure — the A. D. — the more it 
comes to mean; but still it never does tell as much as one can 



150 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

read from the original data themselves when displayed in 
tabular form as in Table V. 

Relationship of Initial and Final Ability 

When the ten individuals are arranged in "order of merit" 
according to initial and final ability it is clear that on the whole 
those who are best at the start are best at the end. G is mark- 
edly an exception to the rule, starting at sixth place and ending 
first. H also gains four places, progressing from tenth to sixth 
place. G was actually a student of markedly superior ability, 
but noted for awkwardness of movement. He tackled the experi- 
ment with misgivings as to his ability to do it thinking it was 
largely a feat of arm movement. He learned very rapidly and 
surprised himself with his performance. 

Knowing nothing of these ten individuals but their initial 
scores, it would be safer to hire the first two to work in a store or 
on a farm, than the last two. This is true, because the test 
does measure general ability to some extent. But because the 
test is far from a perfect measure of ability, individuals hired 
on the basis of it would not always come up to expectations. 
This we see in the case of G, who, on the basis of the final score, 
is better than either B or I. 



LESSON 22 

HOW DO DIFFERENT GROUPS OF INDIVIDUALS 

DIFFER WITH RESPECT TO LEARNING SIMPLE 

ARITHMETICAL COMBINATIONS? 

In this lesson we shall devote our attention to how individuals 
differ in the simplest processes of arithmetic, i. e., simple addi- 
tion and simple multiplication. Some of the questions involved 
are: How do I differ from other adults in a working knowledge 
of the multiplication table? Am I more or less rapid in my work 
than the average adult? Am I more or less accurate than the 
average adult? How do adults differ from children in these 
respects? How do children differ among themselves? Besides 
ascertaining some of the facts in these cases, we shall commence 
to ask ourselves the further question — what is the cause of these 
differences? 

First of all the members of the laboratory section will use the 
B-Test blank, on which appears eighty simple problems in addi- 

4 1 
tion, such as 7 3, etc. The class will be given one minute in 

which to do as many of these problems as they can do. After 
that the class will be tested as to their proficiency in multiplica- 
tion, using the BX-Test blank. The papers will then be scored 
and the averages and average deviations of the two tests worked 
out for the class. When that is finished the laboratory pairs 
will proceed as usual by themselves, taking up the various parts 
of the assignment in order and doing as much as they can during 
the remainder of the hour. As each part is finished it will be 
advisable for the members of the class to consult with the 
instructor in order to make sure that they have understood the 
instructions and have executed them properly. 

Problem. — How do adults differ as to their ability to solve 
simple addition and multiplication problems? 

Apparatus.— A B-Test and a BX-Test blank, watch. 

Procedure. — When all in the laboratory section are ready, turn 
face down the page on which the B-Test is given. The instructor 

151 



152 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

will give two signals, "Get Ready," and "Go." At the latter 
signal, turn the sheet over and solve as many problems as you 
can during the one minute allowed you. At the signal, "Stop," 
stop your work wherever you are and hold up your right hand, so 
that the instructor can have visible proof that you have actually 
stopped. (These instructions you will undoubtedly have cause 
to use later on yourself, as a teacher. You now have an oppor- 
tunity to know how it feels to take a test of this sort.) 

B Test — Addition 
Name Age Grade . 



3 





3 


11 


12 


9 


7 


6 


4 


2 


11 


s 


2 


7 


4 





8 


5 


8 


1 


8 


5 


8 


12 


G 


9 


2 


11 


12 





12 


1 





5 


10 


5 


10 


3 


1 


7 


1 


10 


4 


9 


6 


7 


12 


1 


7 


G 


8 


7 


12 


1 


G 


3 


9 


4 


12 


1 


7 


G 


4 


9 


10 


2 


1 


10 


8 


5 


2 


11 


7 


6 


3 


G 


9 


G 


3 


10 





8 


10 


7 


3 


G 


5 


4 


8 


3 


3 


. 4 


10 


11 


3 


2 


5 


3 


5 


G 


11 


7 





9 


11 


4 


8 


5 


S 


6 


4 


7 


11 


10 


11 





8 


4 


9 


7 


3 


10 


3 





12 


1 


9 


1 


4 


5 


12 


1 


7 


2 


8 


5 


9 





9 





12 


.5 


2 


11 


2 





2 


4 


10 


2 


11 


9 


2 


8 


5 


12 


11 


4 


11 


9 



22 HOW DO GROUPS DIFFER? 153 

BX-TeST M ULTIPLICATION 

Name 



3 





3 


11 


12 


9 


7 


6 


4 


2 


11 


8 


2 


7 


4 





8 


5 


8 


1 


8 


5 


8 


12 


6 


9 


2 


11 


12 





12 


1 





5 


10 


5 


10 


3 


1 


7 


1 


10 


4 


9 


6 


7 


12 


1 


7 


6 


8 


7 


12 


1 


6 


3 


9 


4 


12 


1 


7 


6 


4 


9 


10 


2 


1 


10 


8 


5 


2 


11 


7 


6 


3 


6 


9 


6 


3 


10 





8 


10 


7 


3 


6 


5 


4 


8 


3 


3 


4 


10 


11 


3 


2 


5 


3 


5 


6 


11 


7 





9 


11 


4 


8 


5 


8 


6 


4 • 


7 


11 


10 


11 





8 


4 


9 


7 


3 


10 


3 





12 


1 


9 


1 


4 


5 


12 


1 


7 


2 


8 


5 


9 





9 





12 


5 


2 


11 


2 


■ 


2 


4 


10 


2 


11 


9 


2 


8 


5 


12 


11 


4 


11 


9 



Trade papers with some other member of the class. The 
instructor will then call out the correct' answers to the addition 
problems. Every mistake on the paper before you should be 
indicated by drawing a conspicuous circle around it. Indicate 
at the top of the page the total number of problems performed, 
the number incorrect, and the number correct. A convenient 
form for doing this, "65-3 = 62," or "60 - = 60," where 
the first number indicates the number performed, the second the 
number wrong, and the third the number correct. 



154 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



Return the papers to their owners, who then may look them 
over to see if they have been corrected properly. In case of a 
controversy the scorer should be the final judge. Ambiguously 
written figures should be scored against. 

Repeat the above with the BX-Test blank to test ability in 
simple multiplication. 

. Results. — The instructor will now record the data of the two 
tests on the board and with the aid of the class determine the 
averages and average deviations of the class. Any errors char- 
acteristic of the class should also be recorded. 

Interpretation and Application. — Combine into one general 
discussion at the close of your report the interpretations and 
applications to this problem and those that follow. 

Part No. 2 

Problem. — How do adults difi'er from 4th Grade children in 
their abihty to solve simple multiplication and addition problems? 
Apparatus. — The data in Table VI. 

Table VI. — Showing Average Number of Addition and Multiplica- 
tion Problems Solved Correctly in One Minute by Adults 
AND 4th Grade Children in 10 (and 14) Trials on Different 

Days 





Addition (B-test) 


Multiplication (BX-test) 


Trials 












Adults 


4th Grade 
Children 


Adults 


4th Grade 
Children 


1 


59 


19 


40 


11 


2 


67 


21 


50 


15 


3 


69 


22 


52 


16 


4 


69 


23 


55 


17 


5 


71 


25 


58 


19 


6 


72 


26 


61 


20 


7 


74 


27 


61 


21 


8 


75 


28 


62 


21 


9 


75 


29 


64 


23 


10 


76 


30 


64 


24 


11 




31 




25 


12 




32 




26 


13 




32 




27 


14 




33 




28 



22 HOW DO GROUPS DIFFER? 155 

Note. — The children were allowed two minutes instead of 
one minute to work at the blank. Their records arc expressed 
in terms of what they did in i minute i. e., half of their 2-min- 
ute record. 

Procedure and Results. — Plot these data. Arrange your 
vertical scale so that it will extend from to 80. Connect the 
points on the addition curves with a solid line, and the points on 
the multiplication curves with a dotted line. 

Part No. 3 

Problem. — How do normal 4th Grade children differ from 
badly retarded children of the same age in their ability to solve 
simple addition problems? 

Apparatus. — The data in Table VI and the following informa- 
tion: A class of 2B Grade children were tested by M, Phillips 
with the B-Test. These children averaged 93-^ years (just what 
the usual 4th Grade averages). They had repeated the work 
of the first and second grades several times and were considered 
by the authorities to be practically hopeless. They were put 
(1) through the B-Test on ten successive days; (2) through the 
C-Test (identical to the B-Test except for the combinations 
which were new) on ten more days; (3) given 10 minutes drill on 
15 successive days on the problems of the B-Test; and (4) again 
given the B-Test for 10 successive days. Parts (2) and (3) 
represent 170 minutes drill devoted to simple addition problems 
distributed over 25 days. The average records of the class in 
parts (1) and (4) with the B-Test are as follows: — • 

Trials Part 1 Part 4 

1 4 7 

2 5 8 

3 5 8 

4 5 9 

5 6 9 

6 6 10 

7 6 . 10 

8 6 10 

9 7 11 
10 7 11 

Procedure, Etc. — Handle these data as in Part 2. Bear in 
mind that the averages (i. e., norms) for a Demonstration School 
and for adults were as follows: 



156 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



Grades 


Norms in Ad: 
(B-Test) 
Oct., 1915 


DITION 

Feb.. 1917 


Norms in M 
(BX- 
Oct., 1915 


ULTIPLICATION 

■Test) 

Feb., 1917 


III 








15 










6 


IV 


19 






29 


11 








20 


V 


26 






37 


17 








26 


VI 








40 










25 


VII 


18 






44 


27 








27 


VIII 


20 






43 


30 








30 


IX 








49 










30 


Adults. . . . 


59 






59 


40 








40 



The differences in the norms on the two different dates is due, 
first to the fact that in the second case the grades had had three 
months more schoohng by February than in October and, 
second, to the fact that during the interval a considerable amount 
of time was spent in the school speeding the children up. That 
this was very much needed is clearly apparent from the figures. 
In justice to the Demonstration School it should be noted here 
that the first set of norms was taken very shortly after the 
opening of the school and the poor work represented the training 
these children had received prior to entering the school. 

Procedure and Results. — Plot the learning curves of the 
mentally defective children on the same graph as your other 
curves. 

Note : In these experiments the same blank was used each day. 
Some of the learning consists in more or less learning of answers 
in a regular order. If a different arrangement of the little 
problems had been presented each time, the curves would not 
have gone up so rapidly. 

Interpretation of the Three Parts to This Problem. — What do 
you deduce as to how various classes of individuals differ with 
respect to learning simple addition and multiplication combina- 
tions? Have these three groups of individuals become more or 
less ahke as the result of ten days' practice? What effect has 
this fact upon our present plan of school administration? 

Application. — Hand in your report at the next class-hour. 



LESSON 23 

THE THREE CAUSES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES- 
ENVIRONMENT, HEREDITY, AND TRAINING 

We have noted already that all individuals are alike in that 
they profit by practice; that they show greater gain at the begin- 
ning of practice than at any later time; and that the rate of 
improvement is irregular, an individual showing remarkable gains 
with certain trials and equally surprising "slumps" with other 
trials. We have also noted that individuals differ as to (1) 
initial performance, (2) final performance, and (3) the amount of 
improvement resulting from any given amount of practice. 
Let us now consider these differences in greater detail. 

Environment, Heredity and Training 

A human being may be thought of, first of all, as being pro- 
duced by the two factors — heredity and environment. He is a 
living organism that reacts to the stimuli that confront him in 
life. The stimuli (environment) are the immediate cause of 
his reactions — they initiate the reaction hut they do not condition 
that reaction. In other words, the environment brings about 
reactions but what those reactions are are determined by the 
laws of the organism itself. What a person does during any 
day of his life is determined by his environment, then, and by his 
innate life. If it is summer time and there is a swimming hole 
in the vicinity, he may or may not go swimming. If there is no 
other factor in his environment, such as a dance, to lead him to do 
otherwise, he quite likely will go swimming. Yet he may not. 
Some individuals do not respond to a swimming stimulus by 
going in swimming. Their natures are so constituted that they 
do not receive pleasure from such experience and so do not seek 
it. One of the writer's boyhood friends — -the best pitcher in 
town — never went swimming. He didn't enjoy it. In the 
Holmgren test for color blindness one is given a hundred or more 
different colored skeins of yarn. He is then given a large skein 

157 



158 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

of red yarn and told to pick out all the little skeins of similar 
color. The ordinary individual picks out only red skeins. But 
a color-blind person picks out not only red but also brown and 
gray skeins. And if there happens to be a green skein of the 
same brightness as his red standard he will pick this out also. 
The same stimulus leads to two quite different reactions here. 
The reactions are different because of the difference in the 
development of the eyes of the two individuals. The eyes of 
one individual are so constituted that red and green are dis- 
tinguished apart; the eyes of the other individual are so con- 
stituted that red, gray, and brown, and even a green, with the 
correct brightness, appear alike. We may say then again, that 
the stimulus (environment) is the immediate cause of a reaction, 
but the innate make-up of the individual (heredity) determines 
what the reaction shall be. 

In the case of our mirror-drawing experiment, the stimulus 
was the same for all ten individuals, but their reactions differed 
very materially. Some were very accurate and quick in reacting, 
some were accurate and slow, some were inaccurate but quick, 
and some were inaccurate and slow. At first thought we might 
imagine that the individual differences in this experiment were 
all due to heredity, since the stimulus was alike for the ten 
individuals. But such a statement is not so exact as we shall 
desire here. Suppose one of the ten individuals had practiced 
with the apparatus at some previous time. Would it then be 
fair to say that he did better than the others simply because of 
heredity? Certainly not. We must then introduce a third 
factor into the discussion — the factor of training. Training 
may be thought of in this connection as the habits the individual 
has accumulated from previous experiences in life. Every time 
we react to a stimulus we add a new element to our mental 
make-up. And so we may think of ourselves as being made up of 
pure hereditary influences plus habitual influences. How we 
react, then, toward the swimming hole stimulus is dependent 
(1) upon the entire stimulus comprising swimming hole, dancing 
possibilities, etc.; (2) upon our original nature given us by 
heredity, and (3) upon the sum total of our experiences in life, 
our training. This factor of training is, of course, a mixture of 
heredity and previous environment which now affects the organ- 
ism's reaction to his immediate environment. 



23 THE CAUSES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 159 

Consider the case of a baby who has commenced to talk and 
ah-eady knows a "goose" but no other bh-d, and the word "dress" 
but none other to designate clothing. Standing on the porch 
one day, she observes a pigeon up above her preening its feathers. 
Finally a feather drops out and flutters to her feet. She picks it 
up and holding it out to her mother to admire, exclaims, "Goose's 
dress." The reaction, "Goose's dress," is then initiated by the 
feather falling at her feet. Original nature is responsible for the 
responding to the small object by picking it up, also by desiring 
to talk about it. But previous training determines that the 
particular words that are used are words already learned. All 
three factors contribute then to the reaction. What we do at any 
moment in life is due to the interplay of these three factors: (1) the 
stimulus confronting us; (2) our own original nature inherited 
from our ancestors, and (3) our own acquired habits, the result of 
previous experiences. 

Before considering the individual differences which we have 
discovered in the mirror-drawing experiment, or the simple 
arithmetical work, in the light of these three factors, one point 
needs to be cleared up which may puzzle some. 

Learning Curves Based on "Time" versus Those Based 
ON "Amount Done" 

In the mirror-drawing learning curves, as one progressed, his 
curve came down; in the arithmetic test, as one improved, his 
curve went up. This difference is due to the fact that in the 
mirror-drawing experiment the results were recorded in terms of 
time (seconds), while in the arithmetic tests the results were 
recorded in terms of amount done. Improvement shows itself 
either by a decrease in time for doing the same task (as in the 
mirror-drawing experiment) or by an increase in what is accom- 
plished in the same work-period (as in the arithmetic tests). 
Now either of these curves can be transmuted so as to appear in 
the other form. Take, for example, the curve of learning of the 
4th Grade children in multiplication (shown in the left-hand 
curve of Plate XIII). Here we see that the children performed 
11 problems correctly on the first occasion, 15.5 problems on the 
second, etc. They accomplished that much in CO seconds. At 
that rate it required 5.5 seconds to do one problem on the first 



IGO INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

occasion (i. e., 60 -^ 11 = 5.5); 3.9 seconds to do one problem 
on the second occasion (i. e., 60 -h 15.5 = 3.9); etc. When 
these quotients are plotted for the trials we obtain the right-hand 
curve in Plate XIII. The two curves, then, both record the 
same facts, although one goes up and the other comes down. 
With a little practice in thinking in terms of curves this seeming 
paradox will no longer bother one. 

frtbltma Seeam^i 

34 






¥ V 

3 _, Ji,,- 

Z — 55»,> 



Trit/i 



Trial-i 



Plate XIII. — Learning curves of 4tli Gr:ulc children in multiplication. The 
left hand curve shows the number of problems solved in two minutes on 15 differ- 
ent days. The right hand curve shows the average time required to do a single 
problem on the 15 different days. The former records progress in amount done, 
the latter in time consumed. 



Explanation of Individual Differences in Terms of 
"Heredity" and "Training" 

In the case of the mirror-drawing experiment, or the simple 
arithmetical work, the stimuli are the same for all the individuals. 
All the individuals are confronted with the same apparatus or 
the same blank of 80 problems. In one sense this is not strictly 
true, as we have already seen, since different individuals respond 



23 THE CAUSES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 101 

to different details in a complex situation. But these differences 
are not due to actual physical differences in the stimulus, but 
rather to differences in the individuals themselves. We may- 
then properly speak of the stimuli confronting the individuals 
as being exactly the same in all ten cases. It then remains to 
explain the differences in the responses made by ten individuals 
in terms of "original nature" or "training." 

The Effect of Previous Training. — We have learned that all 
individuals show greater improvement at the commencement 
of practice than at the end. This being the case the learning 
curves of those who have had no previous practice will rise more 
rapidly and slow up more gradually than in the case of those who 
have had previous practice. 

This fact may be illustrated in Plate XIV by saying that the 
person who has had no previous practice (training) would have 
the learning curve marked B. The person with previous training 
might have instead a curve similar to A. The former's curve 
would show very marked gains at the start and would show a 
large improvement altogether. The latter's curve would not 
show such a marked gain at the start and would not show such 
a large total improvement. We may think of A's curve as not 
being complete — that the first 15 trials are not shown here (have 
ing been performed before) and that what is represented is 
trials 16 to 41. This is on the assumption that A and B are 
exactly identical in every respect. This is further shown in the 
two curves by representing B's progress in trials 16 to 26 as 
exactly equal to A's progress in trials 1 to 11. And if the curves 
were continued, B's progress in trials 26 to 41 would be identical 
to A's records in trials 11 to 26. Previous training, then, affects 
an individual's learning curve by raising its starting-point and by 
eliminating to some extent at least the ordinary big rise at the start. 
It was stated above that B would show apparently greater 
improvement than A. The word "apparently" should be 
emphasized. Plate XIV is so drawn as to indicate that although 
B's curve shows a greater gain than A's curve when measured 
in terms of improvement in problems performed correctly (i. e., 
5 problems to 33.0 problems as against 29.2 problems to 35.9 
problems), yet in terms of number of trials B has not gained over 
A. B started out 15 trials behind and remained 15 trials behind 
to the end. If B's curve were extended for 15 trials more it 
11 



1G2 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

would then reach the point reached by A at his 41st trial — the 
end of his practice period. It is an extremely difficult matter 
to measure relative improvement in terms of time or amount of 
work done, because as one approaches his limit each unit of effort 
will produce a smaller and smaller gain in time saved or work 
accomplished. 



tfum^tr «f Tnbltms 




I I 



Trials 



Plate XIV. — Showing learning curves of two individuals who are identical 
in all respects save in the amount of training in the arithmetical combinations. 



The Effect of Differences in Hereditary Endowment. — How do 

differences in sheer hereditary endowment affect learning curves? 
Plate XV illustrates this point. The individual with the best 
endowment will show the greatest improvement, the person with 
the least endowment will show the least improvement. Curves 
B, C, and D represent the learning curves of three persons; curve 



23 THE CAUSES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 163 

B being the curve of the best endowed, curve C being of a poorer 
endowed person, and curve D being of the poorest endowed 
person of the three. The better the original nature of the individual 
the greater will he the improve tnent resulting from practice. These 
three individuals with equal training and varying degrees of 
hereditary endowment would not even do equally well, of course, 
on the first trial, because the better endowed person would do 
better than the others right from the start. 

One warning should be given here. The degree of efficiency of 
the original nature of the individual must be considered as it 
applies to the particular task being tested. For example, a 
great musician (having superior original nature along musical 
lines) may not necessarily have superior endowment in mirror- 
drawing. The musician's curve in mirror-drawing will show 
great improvement or not; depending not upon endowment in 
general, but upon the endowment which he has that pertains 
to mirror-drawing. 

The Effect of Differences in Training and Heredity Com- 
bined. — Now let us consider, third, some combinations of these 
two factors. We may have four individuals: (1) A having good 
heredity and previous training, (2) B having good heredity but no 
previous training, (3) E having poor heredity and previous train- 
ing, and (4) D having poor heredity and no previous training. 
(Poor heredity is to be understood as endowment having to do 
with the trait under discussion; training to be considered in 
terms of so many units of time devoted to learning specific 
material.) Then their learning curves would take more or less 
the forms illustrated in Plate XVI. A and E can be thought 
of as having had 15 units of instruction, and B and D as having 
had none. As B is superior to D by hereditary endowment he 
will do better than the latter at the start and will rapidly leave 
him behind. (See Plate XV, where this point is alone con- 
sidered.) The more training they receive the more different 
will they become as far as this trait is considered, because of the 
difference in their ability. In the same way A and E, who have 
had some previous training, become more and more unlike as 
they continue their training. These curves illustrate, then, the 
principle that continued tra'ning makes individuals of different 
hereditary endowment more and more unlike. We shall return 
to this point a little later. 



164 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

The curves of A and B are symmetrical, A's curve actually 
being the same as B's from the latter's 16th trial on to what would 
be his 41st trial. The curves of E and D are also symmetrical 
in the same way. Because of their previous training A and E 
will maintain their superiority over B and D, respectively. 
This superiority seemingly grows smaller and smaller with 
practice. It actually does if measured in terms of problems 




Plate XV. — Showing learning curves of three individuals with different heredi- 
tary endowments. 

performed, but it does not if measured in terms of effort, for A 
always remains ahead of B to the extent of what 15 units of time 
will produce, and likewise E remains ahead of D to that extent. 

The difference between the good heredity of A and B and the 
poor heredity of E and D is meant to be a considerable difference. 
Yet it is not exaggerated at all in compaiison with the differences 



23 



THE CAUSES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 



165 



found in almost any class room. The differences between the 
average of the 4th Grade and the group of retarded children is 
about equal to that shown here between A and E. In Plate 
XVII are shown the curves of a child from the 4th Grade and 
another from the retarded group. The former is not the brightest 
in that grade (actually rated 11th in a class of 28) and the latter 




Plate XVI. — Showing learning curves of four individuals: A with good 
heredity and previous training; B with good heredity but no training; E with 
poor heredity and previous training; and D with poor heredity and no training. 

is not the dullest among these unfortunate children. In fairness 
to the records it should be stated that undoubtedly the 4th 
Grade child practiced on these combinations outside of school. 
But the dull child had also this opportunity. The curves do 
epresent cons equently the learning that followed equul stimula- 



166 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

tions in the school. One child could respond in an adequate 
manner and did so and the other child could not and so did not. 
Some students can learn mathematics so that they eventually 
master calculus and its applications to engineering, while others 
never get beyond the fundamentals. Some students master the 



Numbtr »i Pfbkmi 

■Ml 



IS 



30 



li 





S 10 IS 



Plate XVII. — Showing learning curves in solving addition combinations 
(B-Test) for a bright 4th Grade child and a mentally defective child of the same 
age. (In the case of the latter between trials 10 and 11 there intervened 170 
minutes of drill extending over 25 days on addition combinations.) 

principles of art and design and become skilled in dressmaking, 
millinery, architecture, painting, etc., while others are oblivious 
to the most atrocious combinations of color or form in their 
clothes, their home surroundings, etc. The gifted child learns 



23 THE CAUSES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 107 

rapidly and improves tremendously; the child who is lacking 
learns slowly and learns very little. 

Individual Differences in Solving Simple Arithmetical 

Combinations 

Let us now more or less review what has been discussed in this 
lesson but consider the matter in terms of the data studied in 
Lesson 22. 

These data are plotted in Plate XVIIL The curves do not 
bring out the points so clearly as do the theoretically constructed 
curves of Plates XIV, XV, and XVI. Nevertheless they bear 
witness to all of those points. 

1. The greater the amount of practice the higher the curves start. 
This point needs no further discussion. 

2. The greater the amount of practice the less rapid the gain. 
This point is true but it does not always appear, due to the pres- 
ence of conflicting factors. Although none of these groups had 
had any previous training with the particular tests under discus- 
sion, yet we naturally would expect the adults to have had more 
practice and so to show less improvement than the 4th Grade 
children. The real cause, however, as to why the curves do not 
clearly illustrate the point made at the commencement of this 
paragraph is due to the differences in the groups in terms of 
heredity. Not only are the adults superior to the 4th Grade 
children because they have a mature development of their 
hereditary nature, but also without question a class of college 
men and women are superior to a class of 4th Grade children. 
That is, the 4th Grade class will not average as high an 
endowment when they become adults as do the college students. 
This class of forty-three college students is probably made up of 
the superior students from forty-three 4th Grade classes. The 
great differences in heredity cover up then the effect of much 
practice versus little practice. 

3. The greater the hereditary endowment the greater the improve- 
ment from training. This point is clear from the curves and 
from what has just been stated. 

4. The greater the training the more a group of individuals 
become unlike. At the commencement of the training recorded 
here the three groups could perform as follows: 



168 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

Numlier of problems solved per minute by college students 59 

Number of problems solved per minute by 4th Grade children 19 

Number of problems solved per minute by defective children 4 

Average 27.3 

A. D. 21.1 

and at the end of ten practice periods they performed as follows: 

Number of problems solved per minute by college students 76 

Number of problems solved per minute by 4th Grade children 30 

Number of problems solved per minute by defective children 7 

Average 37.7 

A. D. 25.6 

As the A. D. has increased we know the groups are less ahke than 
before. This fact is shown also in this way. 

College students are superior to 4th Grade Children at start 
by 40 problems. 

College students are superior to 4th Grade Children at end by 
46 problems. 
Also — • 

College students are superior to Defective Children at start by 
55 problems. 

College students are superior to Defective Children at end by 
69 problems. 
And— 

4th Grade Children are superior to Defective Children at 
start by 15 problems. 

4th Grade Children are superior to Defective children at end 
by 23 problems. 

This fourth fact, that training causes a group to "fly apart," 
to become more and more unlike, due to the inherent differences 
in the hereditary equipment of the members of the group, affects 
our school work most profoundly. It makes clear that no grade 
can be taught as a class without some members very shortly 
doing such good work as to tempt the authorities to promote them 
into the next grade and some other children doing such poor work 
as to lead to their being put back into the grade below or to force 
the teacher to give them individual instruction. No mechanical 
administrative scheme for holding a class together will ever work 
satisfactorily because the members of that class cannot advance 



23 



THE CAUSES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 



169 



at the same rate. The solution to this difficulty has not been 
evolved, but if it ever is, in the writer's opinion, it will include a 
very flexible scheme of promotion by subject-matter, coupled 
with extensive provision for individual coaching of children that 



/dumber ot TftkUmS 
60 



70 



kO 



SO 



40 



20 




5 .io 

Tritli o< C'«e rHinuft Each 



Plate XVIII. — Showing learning curves in solving simple arithmetical 
combinations: from adults, Curve A (B-Test) and Curve B (BX-Test) from 
4th Grade children, Curve C (B-Test) and Curve D (BX-Test); and from 
defective children, Curves E and F (B-Test) — Curve F prior to and Curve E 
after 170 minutes of special drill on addition combinations.) 

are markedly behind and markedly ahead of their class. This 
point will be taken up again later. But right now it should be 
realized that the main point of the whole problem is that children 
cannot progress in their learning at the same rate — that some 
go fast, some go slow, and some advance at average speed. 



LESSON 24 

THE GENERAL LAW AS TO HOW INDIVIDUALS 

DIFFER 

We know that people are different almost before we realize 
that there are people. We distinguish between tall people and 
short people, fat people and thin people, clever people and silly 
people, and most of us would agree fairly well in our classifications. 
But how do we draw these distinctions? Do we have hard and 
fast lines, enclosed between which one class is set off from 
another? Should we say that all men between inches and 62 
inches in height, for instance, are short, and those between 62 
inches and 84 inches are tall? That any one weighing under 
125 pounds is thin or more than 125 pounds is fat? And even if 
we decide to be so definite in these cases (though certainly our 
standard is artificial) where shall we draw the line in the case of 
mental attainments? Are we all talented or stupid, for example? 
Or are most of us merely average people without special qualify- 
ing adjectives, and the rest of us simply either better or worse 
than the average? That is, instead of having separate little 
groups of idiots, normal folks, and geniuses, the members of 
each class keeping carefully to themselves, do we perhaps have 
but one class of individuals, all typified by the average, yet all 
varying from the average in greater or less degree? 

We are about to perform an experiment in throwing dice. This 
is as purely a chance performance as we can get. Let us see 
if the throws are distinctly different or whether they follow one 
general law. For example, can we divide the throws into two 
groups — high and low, or must we think in terms of one group 
with variations from its average? In any case the results may 
apply to our biological problem as given above. 

The Experiment 

Problem. — ^In throwing dice are the totals distinctly different 
or do they approach a general type? 
Apparatus. — Coordinate paper; 3 dice. 

170 



24 



LAW AS TO HOW INDIVIDUALS DIFFER 



171 



Procedure. — Part 1. Lay off on your coordinate paper a 
base line, and number the squares from to 18, as is done in 
Plate XIX. Lay off a vertical axis and number the squares from 
to 35 (Plate XIX only shows to 8). Now commence and throw 
your three dice. Count up the total of the three dice and record 
that total on your coordinate paper in its proper place. (The 
writer threw first a 4, 3, and 1 , making a total of 8.) A " 1 " (first 
throw) is placed in the square on the coordinate paper immedi- 
ately above the 8 on the scale. A total of 11 was next thrown by 
the writer and it is indicated by the "2" in the plate. A total of 
14 was thrown third, etc. Twenty-five throws are indicated in 
this Plate, the twenty-fifth throw being a total of 7. Plate XIX 
shows then that the writer threw 



one 6 
one 7 
three 8's 
three 9's 
six lO's 
three 11 's 



two 12's 
one 13 
two 14's 
one 15 
one 16, and 
one 17 



Thus 25 throws are distributed or indicated in the plate. 

Record in this way 100 throws. Show your completed diagram 
to the instructor before proceeding further. 

Such a diagram is called a surface of distribution as it shows just 
how all the throws were distributed among the possible totals. 

Part 2. Now determine how many different totals can be 









8 

x: 
1- 

^2 






























































































24 




































19 




































14 
































IS 


22 


8 


17 






























15 


11 


5 


13 


16 




12 




















21 


25 


1 


6 


4 


2 


10 


7 


3 


20 


9 


23 






2 4 6^ 8 10 12 14. 16 18 

Total Amount of Throws. 





Plate XIX. — Illustrating by means of a "surface of distribution" twenty-five 
throws of three dice. 



172 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

olitained by throwing three dice. (In Plate XIX are indicated 
12 different totals, i. e., from a total of 6 to a total of 17, inclusive.) 
Present your answer to your instructor before proceeding further. 

Part 3. Now figure out (a) all the possible different combina- 
tions^ it is possible to obtain by throwing three dice. (Assume 
one of the three dice is red, another is blue, and the third is white. 
Then one on the red die, two on the blue, and three on the 
white is a different combination from one on the red, two on 
the white, and three on the blue, or from two on the red, one 
on the blue, and three on the white. The question is, how 
many different combinations are there?) 

Also figure out (b) how many of each total you will obtain when 
every possible combination is considered. 

Part 4. Suppose instead of getting the 100 throws you did get, 
you had thrown the dice as many times as there are different 
combinations and in throwing the dice that number of times had 
got each and all of these different combinations. Plot a surface 
of distribution to illustrate just this. 

Part 5. What relation exists between the surface of distribution 
you actually obtained by throwing the dice 100 times and the 
surface of distribution obtained in the preceding paragraph? 

What relation do you think there exists between the findings 
in this experiment of throwing dice and the general problem of 
how individuals differ? Can throws be divided into two or 
more groups; can individuals? 

Hand in your report at the next class-hour. 

^ Mathematically speaking what is wanted here is permutations, not 
combinations. That is, in forming combinations we are only concerned with 
the number of things each selection contains, whereas in forming permuta- 
tions, we have also to consider the order of the things which make up each 
arrangement; for instance, if from six numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, we make a 
selection of three, such as 123, this single combination admits of being 
arranged in the following ways:— 123, 132, 213, 231, 312, and 321, and so 
gives rise to six different permutations. 



LESSON 25 

THE GENERAL LAW AS TO HOW INDIVIDUALS 
DIFFER (continued) 

The Normal Surface of Distribution 

If one should take three dice and tlirow them 21G times, each 
time counting up the total score and plotting this score, one 
might obtain a surface of distribution somewhat like the three 
surfaces shown in Plate XX. The first and third were actually 
so obtained, the middle one is the perfect surface which theoretic- 
ally chance should give. 

One may figure out this theoretically perfect surface in this 
way. Count up all the throws that are possible and record how 
many times each total appears. You may have 

1 and 1 and 1, a total of 3 
1 and 1 and 2, a total of 4 
1 and 1 and 3, a total of 5 
1 and 1 and 4, a total of G 
1 and 1 and 5, a total of 7 
1 and 1 and 6, a total of 8 
1 and 2 and 1, a total of 4 
1 and 2 and 2, a total of 5 
etc. 

When you have so obtained all the 216 totals you will find that 
you have 

27 total of 11 

25 total of 12 

21 total of 13 

15 total of 14 

10 total of 15 

6 total of 16 

3 total of 17 

1 total of 18 

When these data are plotted you have the ideal surface of 
distribution in Plate XX. All this means that when you throw 
three dice you are just as likely to get any one combination as 

173 



1 total of 


3 


3 totals of 


4 


6 totals of 


5 


10 totals of 


G 


15 totals of 


7 


21 totals of 


8 


25 totals of 


9 


27 totals of 10 



174 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



any other. But you are more likely to get a total of 10 or 11 
than 3 or 18. You can express this likelihood by the expression 
27 to 1, for there are 27 combinations that will give a total of 
10 or 11, whereas there is only one combination that will give 
3 or 18. Our normal curve of distribution represents then that 
surface most likely to be obtained by 216 throws. Actually we 
seldom get exactly that ideal surface, but we do get surfaces that 
approximate it in general appearance. 




25 LAW AS TO HOW INDIVIDUALS DIFFER 175 

One may think of this matter of throwing three dice as being 
conditioned on three independent factors, each one of which may- 
vary independently in six different ways. When the three 
independent factors with their six possible variations are con- 
sidered as a whole, we reahze that there are 216 independent 
combinations possible. But the 216 independent combinations 
do not give 216 different final scores. They give but 16 different 
scores (from 3 to 18). Nor do the 216 combinations give an 
equal number of each of the 16 different scores. They give 
varying numbers of the 16 different scores — only one 3, three 4's, 
six 5's, etc., as in the table above. 





Plate XXI. — The normal curve or surface of distribution. The two curves 
differ only in that a coarse unit of measurement was employed in the second case 
whereas a fine unit was employed in the first case;— i. e., inches vs. eighths of an 
inch. (From E. L. Thorndike, Educational Psychology, Vol. Ill, p. 334.) 

Now in a similar way we may think of the characters of differ- 
ent individuals as the final totals resulting from the interaction 
of many independent factors, each of which may vary independ- 
ently in many ways. Instead of there being but three factors 
with six variations each, which combined give us our human 
individuahties, there are undoubtedly many more than three 
factors and these factors have many more than six variations. 
Nevertheless the final outcome is very similar to what we obtain 
by throwing dice. We find that most of the individuals, just 
like most of the throws, give us individualities that resemble 
each other very much, just as the throws of 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 



170 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

13 are very much alike. We find also that occasionally we get 
very striking personalities, just as very occasionally we get 
throws of 3 or 4 or 17 or 18. They are striking because they 
differ so from what we ordinarily have. 

In Plate XXI are given two different methods of drawing the 
typical surface of distribution. In the lower of these two sur- 
faces there was used a very coarse unit of measurement, e. g., 
inches in measuring height, and in the upper surface there was 
used a very much finer unit of measurement, e. g., eighths of an 
inch. We can imagine a surface drawn on the basis of a still 
finer unit of measurement. In this case the jogs in the line would 
be very, very small, so that for all practical purposes the line 
would be a smooth curve and not a jagged line. Such a curve is 
called the normal curve of distribution. In terms of geometry the 
normal curve of distribution is the limit approached by most 
surfaces of distribution which are obtained in biological studies. 

The Distribution of Individual Differences 

An Ideal Distribution. — When we come to study human beings 
we find that they fit into our normal surface wonderfully well. 
In fact, the conception has been derived from our study of 
individual differences. In Plate XXII is shown a normal curve 
of distribution picturing the different types of individuals accord- 
ing to general intelligence. In the middle are the great bulk 
(50%) of human beings — ^average human beings. As we proceed 
to the left, we have individuals slightly below the average; 
"dull" persons; morons with intelligence approximately equal 
to children from 8.0 to 10.0 years;^ and then imbeciles with intelli- 
gence of from 2.0 to 8.0 years; and idiots with intelligence of 
from 0.0 to 2.0 years. The remaining 0.001% of the inferior 
population can possibly be thought of as being too inferior to 
live and so constitute a fraction of those who are born dead. In 
the same way we may divide up our superior individuals pro- 
ceeding from the middle group out toward the right. Apparently 
we have no terms to cover these superior individuals so that the 

' There is a great deal of controversy today as to what should be the proper 
mental age limit of morons. Some writers place it as high as 12 years. 
Experienced based upon testing men in the army makes 10 years a satis- 
factory figure. 



26 



LAW AS TO HOW INDIVIDUALS DIFFER 



177 



expressions used here have no standard meaning. To the right 
of the group entitled "National Leaders," comprising 29,000 in a 
population of 100,000,000, are still 1,000 individuals not to be 
overlooked. They comprise our most valuable men, our geniuses, 
etc. 

Cattell,! in his study of the thousand most eminent men 
of history, studied a group even more eminent than these since 
his thousand was not taken from a population of 100,000,000 

1 J. McK. Cattell, A Statistical Study of Eminent Men, Popular Science 
Monthly, Feb., 1903. 




12 



178 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



but from the population of the known civilized world. They 
would be located on this diagram several groups to the right of the 
group here entitled "National Leaders." According to Cattell 
the ten most eminent men of all history are the following in the 
order of their prominence: — Napoleon, Shakespeare, Moham- 
med, Voltaire, Bacon, Aristotle, Goethe, Julius Caesar, Luther, 
and Plato. 



35 000 



30 000 





- 


25000 


- 


20000 


- 


15000 


— 


10000 


— 


5000 


— 





r-rr 




Plate XXIII. — Showing distribution of height of 221,819 men. (Quoted 
from note of E. G. Boring in Science, Nov. 12, 1920, p. 465f). 



Actual Distributions of Individual Differences 

Plates XXIII and XXIV present distributions of physical 
height and general intelligence. In both these cases the actual 
distribution very closely approximates to the smooth, normal 



26 



LAW AS TO HOW INDIVIDUALS DIFFER 



179 



curve. They emphasize again that men vary; also that they 
cluster around one central tendency or type. 

In Lesson 21 our attention was called to the fact that the aver- 
ages of the eight grades of a school may be equal or superior to 
the norms for those grades, and yet many children in each grade 
may be in a very bad way educationally. The specific case was 
mentioned of testing a school with the Kansas Silent Reading 
Test and the individual scores for all the children were presented 
in Table V. These scores are again given in Plate XXV, where 
they are displayed as surfaces of distribution. Because of the 




Plate XXIV. — Showing distribution of 93,965 white men in the army- 
draft in terms of intelligence test scores. (From Memoirs, National Academy 
of Science, Vol. XV, 1921, p. 653.) 

small number of children in any class these surfaces only remotely 
approximate the form of the surface of distribution which would 
be obtained if there had been 100 or 200 children in each grade. 
When the scores from all the children in Grades IV to VIII are 
combined, as they are in the lower part of Plate XXV, a surface 
of distribution much more similar to the typical form is obtained. 
If the scores from the children in Grades I to III had been in- 
cluded the surface of distribution would be still more similar to 
the usually obtained form. The form obtained here is typical 
of the form which results from a study of individual differences 
in nearly all traits, both mental and physical. 

During the war a psychological "general intelligence" test was 
given to hundreds of thousands of the enlisted men and to many 



180 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

of the officers. Distribution of the scores obtained from enhsted 
men is shown in Plate XXIV; also again in Plate XXVI, together 
with the distribution of officers' scores. The two distributions 



4 

4 4 4 
4 4 444444 4 

44 444444444 4444 



Grade E 



5 T Grade ¥ 

5 5 

5 5 55 55555 55 

5 5555 555 55 5-5 5 5^ 5 



6 ^ Graded 

6 6 
6 6 6 

6 6 6 6 6 6 
6666666 666666666 6 6 6 



U 



*7 , GradeW 

7 7 

7 7 7 

7 7 7 7 7 7 

7 7 7 7777777177 7 7 7 



GradeW 



& 8, 8 8 

68 8 d>8>88& 888 88 6 



Grades ]y-¥ni 
4 

5 4 
5 44 
5 4 5 4 

5 4 544 54 

6 4 5 644 5 54 

6 5456 6546 54 45 
4 6 5456654765455 
4 7 6556675765656 

4 74 6657675776766 4 5 6 

4 74776667678777756 67 868 

4 45 76 7788 78 7 7 88 888 67 5 88 8 887 8 



15 t 20 25 

5cor(Z In Readir?q 



Plate XXV.— Showing the Distribution of Children in Grades IV toVIII, based 
on the Kansas Silent Reading Test. (See Table V for individual scores.) (Aver- 
ages of each grade indicated by the arrows.) 

are based on data which are not quite comparable and so can 
not be directly contrasted. Plate XXVI shows that the officers 



25 LAW AS TO HOW INDIVIDUALS DIFFER 181 

as a class were superior to the enlisted men in intelligence. This 
fact may be expressed also as follows: 

2.4% of the enlisted men were superior to 75% of the officers 

6.4% of the enlisted men were superior to 50% of the officers 

12.2% of the enlisted men were superior to 25% of the officers 

Intelhgence is not the only qualification needed by officers. 
Some of those with low intelligence scores were superior in lead- 
ership and experience. In the same way some of the enlisted 
men who were very superior in intelligence had very poor phy- 



f tret it 




Arntf Iniclh'itiicc Ttil A Scert» 

Plate XXVI. — Showing the distribution ot scores obtained by enlisted men 
and officers in psychological intelligence test (Test A). Based on scores of 128,- 
747 "literate" men and 8,096 white officers. Undoubtedly many enlisted men 
too illiterate to take the test were included here. 



sique and appearance or were lacking in education or leadership, 
etc. From the standpoint of the psychologists and personnel 
officers the problem of selection of men for officers' training camps 
was to find the superior enlisted men — superior both in intelli- 
gence and other necessary qualifications. 

The sharp drop at the extreme left of the enlisted men's dis- 
tribution curve proves conclusively that many enlisted men were 
not measured here who belonged to the group of enlisted men. 
This was true. Twenty-five per cent, of men were eliminated 
l)y the draft boards as below standard physically, mentally or 
morally. And the worst illiterates were not given the test. 



182 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

Illiterates and those making a poor score in this test were given 
a test not involving reading. 

Fundamental Causes of Individual Differences 

Individual differences are to be thought of as the resultant of 
many more or less independent factors, each of which vary 
considerably. These factors may be grouped under the three 
headings — environment, heredity and training. In the case of 
heredity, we may look upon a human being as made up of many 
factors handed down to him from his parents through the two 
germ cells. These factors are more or less independent. Accord- 
ing to the combination which results from all these factors we 
have any particular human being. As illustrated by the 
experiment in throwing dice, although there may be many 
combinations of factors with their individual variations there 
results (1) a much smaller number of distinct individualities 
and (2) the great majority of such individualities are much 
alike with only relatively few cases of marked variation from the 
average. 

At the present time science has ascertained in only a few cases 
what the factors are which affect human beings so as to make 
them different. And even there this has been done only to a 
limited degree. One example may be mentioned simply to make 
this matter clearer. In the throat or neck are some small 
glands known as the thyroid glands. They secrete into the blood 
a substance which is ''characterized by containing a large amount 
of iodin (9.3% of the dry weight)." This chemical, apparently, 
exercises in the tissues "a regulating action of an important or 
indeed essential character." Removal or atrophy of the thyroids 
results in a condition of chronic malnutrition; "in the young it is 
responsible for arrested growth and deficient development 
designated as cretinism, and in the adult the same cause gives 
rise to the peculiar disease of myxedema, characterized by dis- 
tressing mental deterioration, an edematous (dropsy of the 
subcutaneous cellular tissue) condition of the skin, loss of hair, 
etc." On the other hand, enlargement of the thyroid glands 
"forms an essential factor of the disease exophthalriiic goitre." 
"The salient feature of exophthalmic goitre is a lowered threshold 
to all stimuli." "The organism responds at such times to the 



25 



LAW AS TO HOW INDIVIDUALS DIFFER 



183 



prick of a pin, a hint of danger, or the shghtest infection, by a 
transformation of energy many times greater than would follow 
the same stimulation in the normal organism." Patients suffer- 
ing from cretinism are now fed this iodin chemical, whereas 
patients suffering from exophthalmic goitre are operated on so as 



Table VII. — Showing the Percentage of 4th and 8th Grade 
Children Who (a) Attempted and (b) Solved prom to 20 Problems 



Per cent, of pupils 


who attempted to 


Per cent, of pupils who soUed cor- 


do a given num 


jer of problems 


rectly a given number of problems 


4th Grade 


8th Grade 


4th Grade 


8th Grade 


20 Probs.— 0% 


20 Probs.— 5% 


20 Probs.— 0% 


20 Probs.— 2% 


19 Probs.— 


19 Probs.- 2 


19 Probs.— 


19 Probs.— 1 


18 Probs.— 


18 Probs.— 2 


18 Probs.— 


18 Probs.— 1 


17 Probs.— 


17 Probs.— 3 


17 Probs.— 


17 Probs.— 1 


16 Probs.— 1 


16 Probs.— 4 


16 Probs.— 


16 Probs.— 2 


15 Probs.— 1 


15 Probs.— 6 


15 Probs.— 


15 Probs.— 2 


14 Probs.— 1 


14 Probs.— 7 


14 Probs.— 


14 Probs.— 3 


13 Probs.- 1 


13 Probs.— 8 


13 Probs.— 1 


13 Probs.— 4 


12 Probs.— 1 


12 Probs.— 9 


12 Probs.— 1 


12 Probs.— 5 


11 Probs.— 2 


11 Probs.— 11 


11 Probs.— 1 


11 Probs.— 7 


10 Probs.— 4 


10 Probs.— 1 1 


10 Probs.— 1 


10 Probs.— 8 


9 Probs.— 5 


9 Probs.— 10 


9 Probs.— 2 


9 Probs.— 8 


8 Probs.— 12 


8 Probs.— 10 


8 Probs.— 3 


8 Probs.— 10 


7 Probs.— 14 


7 Probs.— 6 


7 Probs.— 6 


7 Probs.— 10 


6 Probs.— 21 


6 Probs.— 4 


6 Probs.— 9 


6 Probs.— 


5 Probs.— 14 


5 Probs.— 1 


5 Probs.— 12 


5 Probs.— 9 


4 Probs.- 13 


4 Probs.— 1 


4 Probs.- 14 


4 Probs.— 7 


3 Probs.— 6 


3 Probs.— 


3 Probs.— 14 


3 Probs.— 6 


2 Probs.— 3 


2 Probs.— 


2 Probs.— 13 


2 Probs.— 3 


1 Probs.— 1 


1 Probs.— 


1 Probs.— 13 


1 Probs.— 1 


Probs.— 


Probs.— 


Probs.— 10 


Probs.— 1 


Aver. 6 . 44 


11.65 


3.81 


8.41 



to reduce the amount of this chemical given off by the thyroid 
glands. We see here a single factor in the entire organism — the 
production of an iodine chemical — which when only slightly 
produced results in cretinism (deficient physical and mental 



184 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

development), when normally produced results in normal 
behavior, and when excessively produced results in goitre accom- 
panied by a chronic state of great excitability.^ 

The Overlapping of Distributions of Ability in Different 

School Grades 

The scores of children in the Kansas Silent Reading Test for 
the various school grades overlap very greatly (see Plate XXV) . 
Because such overlapping is one of the most important concep- 
tions in educational theory today, it will repay us to consider 

1 Quotations are from W. H. Howell, Physiology, 1907, pp. 794-797 and 
G. W. Crile, Man— An Adaptive Mechanism, 1916, pp. 140-143 and 192-197. 







b 

o 

till 

<2 
a 
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OS 


(O 


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vO 


u> 


■* 


m 


OJ 


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o 
































































































































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a: 


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CJ— QOvOONvOiTi 


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> .-. --5 T) 

■■ a "o 

3 to '^ 

ro 0) a) 



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t-( to 



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►J ft o; :5 c3 60 



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25 LAW AS TO HOW INDIVIDUALS DIFFER 185 

two other examples of it here. The Courtis Arithmetic Tests are 
employed to find out how rapidly and accurately pupils can do 
certain of the fundamental processes. For example, one of the 
problems in the column addition test is made up of the following 
numbers:— 837, 882, 959, 603, 118, 781, 756, 222, 525. 

Courtis^ measures the speed of work by recording the number 
of problems "attempted" and the accuracy of the work by 
recording the number of problems which were "right" or correct. 
The four columns in Table VII show what per cent, of the two 
grades "attempted," or got "right," any specific number of 
problems ranging from 20 to 0. For example, the table shows 
that 0% of the 4th Grade attempted 20 problems while 5% of 
the 8th Grade attempted that number, and it shows that natur- 
ally % of the 4th Grade got 20 problems right, while 2 % of the 
8th Grade did solve that number correctly. It shows further 
that 1 % of the 4th Grade attempted 12 problems as against 9 % of 
the 8th Grade, and that 1% of the 4th Grade got 12 problems 
right, as against 5% in the 8th Grade. If we want to know just 
how many children attempted or solved correctly 12 or more 
problems in the two grades we must add up all the percentages in 
the table for 12 problems and better. This gives us the follow- 
ing: 5% of the 4th Grade attempted 12 or more problems as 
against 46 % of the 8th Grade and 2 % of the 4th Grade got right 
12 or more problems as against 21% of the 8th Grade. All of 
this is shown diagrammatically in Plate XXVII. 

The averages of the 4th and 8th Grades are given at the bottom 
of the table. The 8th Grade has done just about twice as well 
as the 4th Grade on the basis of these figures. In terms of such 
figures one would expect that all 8th Grade children would be 
superior to all 4th Grade children for the former averages 8.4 
problems correct to 3.8 problems for the latter. But a study of 
the table and particularly the plate shows that this is false. 
Fifty-one of the children from the 8th Grade could be put in the 
4th Grade and a corresponding number from the 4th Grade be 
put in the 8th Grade and the averages of the two grades for 
accuracy would not be affected at all. When we give our 8th 
Grade children a diploma, graduating them into the High School, 
we feel that the diploma means that they are up to 8th Grade 

' S. A. Courtis, Educational Diagnosis, Second Indiana Educational 
Conference, 1915, p. 154. 



186 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

standards and far superior to 7th, or 6th, or 5th, or certainly 4th 
Grade standards. But apparently many in the class are not. 
For here in this perfectly typical illustration based on about 
11,000 children, 38 in every hundred 8th Grade children are no 
different from 38 other children in the 4th Grade as regards their 
speed of adding and 51 in every hundred 8th Grade children are 
no different from 51 other 4th Grade children as regards their 
ability to add correct!}'' columns of figures. 

The A. D.'s for the data in Table VII concerning the ability 
of children in the 4th and 8th Grades to add columns of figures 
are: — 

Average number of problems attempted in 4th Grade . 6.44 A. D. 1 . 94 

Average number of problems attempted in 8th Grade . 11.65 A. D. 2 . 69 
Average number of problems correctly solved in 4th 

Grade 3.81 A.D. 2.19 

Average number of problems correctly solved in 8th 

Grade 8.41 A.D. 3.09 

As pointed out in Lesson 21 the size of these A. D.'s immediately 
warns us against supposing that all the children are equal to the 
average for their grade. They also confirm again the point made 
in Lesson 23 that the greater the training the more the individuals 
are different. Inspection of the surfaces of distribution in Plate 
XXVII. as well as the size of these A. D.'s shows that the 
members of the 8th Grade differ more among themselves than 
do the members of the 4th Grade. This fact would be all the 
more clearly shown if the children who have dropped out of 
school between the 4th and 8th Grades, were present in this 8th 
Grade. For most of them would appear at the lower end of the 
surface of distribution. 

A survey was made of English composition at Purdue Uni- 
versity in September 1919, the freshmen being required to write 
a short composition. Results showed that 10 %, excluding foreign 
students, ''have composition ability on the same level as the sixth 
grade in Detroit, Michigan." Work typical of this poorest 10% 
was as follows: — 

"One night last winter. I got into my mother's cubord, and 
got a whole mince pie and ate it, just before going to bed. And 
of all the bad dreams I had the worst. 

"I drempt I was taken to China and roasted alive. Next the 
India tans tortured me, then I was taken to Africa and left in 



25 LAW AS TO IIOW INDIVIDUALS DIFFER LS7 

the jungles and again I was in a ward with the small pox and 
when I was about to die I awoke with a sick headache." 

"There were 111 compositions of about this quality . . . 
This may be taken as indicating that 10% of the entering class, 
either on account of innate mental deficiency or inadequate 
training, have not mastered the elementary mechanics, the 
simple conventional technique of expressing their thoughts in 
written form. These students are evidently not prepared to do 
high school work in English, to say nothing of attempting fresh- 
man work in college .... The assumption that all freshmen 
are prepared to do the same type of English work, and the fairly 
common practice of grouping, instructing, and grading on this 
basis, seems to be without any pedagogical justification." ^ 

This matter of how students differ among themselves is a very 
important problem affecting our whole educational system in a 
very profound way. When we reahze that 51% of 8th Grade 
children add columns of figures no more accurately than a cor- 
responding percentage of 4th Grade children and that 10% of 
college freshmen write compositions no better than average 
sixth grade children we must realize that something is wrong with 
our school system. All of our methods of study, all of our 
methods for supervision, and all of our administration schemes 
should be subjected to careful scrutiny in order to see if any of 
them are the cause for such astounding comparisons. Possibly, 
radical changes might produce a more uniform proficiency in the 
grades. Possibly the graded system itself is at fault. Possibly 
the differences discussed here are inherent in children themselves, 
so that very little or nothing can be done to rectify the matter. 
If that is the case, then, changes possibly should be made so that 
all diplomas might have a more definite meaning than they now 
appear to possess. 

' G. C. Brandenburg, The Quality of Freshman Composition, School and 
Society, Dec. 17, 192L 



LESSON 2G 

HOW SHOULD STUDENTS BE GRADED ? 

One of the most perplexing problems in education today is that 
of grading students. Until very recently the subject was ignored, 
for it >vas taken for granted that if a person was capable of 
teaching his class he was capable of grading the students in that 
class. Even today, the vast majority of teachers consider it their 
inalienable right to grade as they please and strenuously resent 
an}'- interference with their methods. Recent studies made on 
this subject show, however, that teachers differ very widely in 
the way they grade their students. In fact, the variation is so 
great that it is perfectly apparent that all cannot be grading their 
students fairly. And when "honors" are based on the grades 
of different instructors the injustice of the present system is 
clearly apparent. A friend of the writer deliberately restricted 
his work as far as possible to the three departments of Latin, 
German, and History in a great university, because he realized 
that it was easy to make high grades there and he was determined 
to win Phi Beta Kappa. These three departments granted " A 's" 
to 30% of their students, while many other departments granted 
"A's" to less than 5% of their students. He made his Phi 
Beta Kappa key but at the expense of a broad, well-rounded 
college training. If he had taken courses from many depart- 
ments he would have stood certainly less than half the chance of 
getting high grades and probably not more than one-third the 
chance. 

Below are given (See Table VIII) the grades which an instruc- 
tor awarded a class in history. They are the grades from three 
examinations, and the final grade for the semester is to be made 
up from them, each of the three to count one-third of the final 
grade. (The grades were obtained by the instructor assigning 
definite values to each question or part of a question, scoring 
the student in terms of each question, and finally adding up all 
these separate scores. The grades given here have been modified 

188 



26 



HOW SHOULD STUDENTS BE GRADED? 



189 



soincvvhat by the writer but they approximate. in a general way 
the grades actually given by this instructor.) 

Plot surfaces of distribution for the three sets of grades listed 
below. 

Table VIII. — The Grades Given by an Instructor in Three Examina- 
tions. What Should be the Final Grade of Each Student? 



Students 


First Exam. 


Sec. Exam. 


Third Exam. 


1 


60 


100 


70 


2 


55 


90 


55 


3 


50 


80 


80 


4 


45 


95 


55 


5 


45 


85 


70 


6 


40 


95 


50 


7 


40 


80 


50 


8 


35 


70 


65 


9 


35 


85 


45 


10 


30 


75 


60 


11 


30 


80 


50 


12 


30 


90 


75 


13 


25 


95 


30 


14 


25 


90 


60 


15 


20 


90 


55 


16 


20 


85 


55 


17 


20 


80 


35 


18 


15 


100 


50 


19 


15 


65 


40 


20 


10 


80 


45 


21 


10 


85 


35 


22 


5 


85 


45 


23 


5 


60 


30 


24 





75 


25 



Answer the following questions: — • 

1. Who is responsible for the low grades in the first examination 
and the high grades in the second examination? Do the grades 
mean that the students loafed before the first examination and 
studied hard before the second? Or do they mean that the first 
examination was too hard or too long and the second too easy 
or too short? Or do they mean that the course of study was 
poorly organized at the beginning and the teaching was poor at 
the start and after the poor showing in the first examination the 
teacher ''woke up" and "got busy" and did good teaching? 

Who, then, is primarily responsible for the grades in the first 



190 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

examination ranging from 60 to and in the second examination 
from 100 to 60? 

2. Which grade represents the greater ability, 60 given in the 
first examination or 80 given in the second? 60 is 20% inferior 
to 80, of course. But, on the other hand, only one student 
received 60 in the j&rst examination and none received a higher 
rating, whereas in the second examination 5 students received 
80 and 14 more received higher grades than 80. 

3. If we arrange the students in order of merit according to 
their grades in the examinations, we find that 

the best student got 60, 100, and 80, respectively, 
the 12th student got 30, 85 and 50, respectively, and 
the poorest student got 0, 60 and 25, respectively. 

Are 60, 100 and 80 equal then? Or 30, 85 and 50? Or 0, 60 

and 25? 

4. In grading examination papers should we grade in terms of 
the "ideal" paper, the best paper, the paper of an average student, 
the poorest paper or "zero" knowledge? With which one of 
these standards is the teacher most likely to be familiar? Which 
one is most likely to fluctuate from year to year? 

5. What final grades would you give these 24 students on the 
basis of the three examinations? Plot the surface of distribution 
for the grades you assign. 

6. Are your final grades fair to the students? To the instruct- 
or? To students in other sections of this same history course? 
To other instructors? To the institution as a whole? Explain. 

Hand in your report at the next class-hour. 



LESSON 27 

METHODS OF GRADING STUDENTS 

The matter of grading students in a class is a subject that is 
intimately connected with the subject of individual differences. 
It is introduced here as an illustration of how this subject is 
related in still another way to educational theory and practice. 

Systems of Marking Students 

Grading on Percentage Basis with Prescribed Passing Mark. — 

One of the two most universally used systems of grading students 
is to give students grades ranging from to 100, with some grade 
as 50, or 60, or 75, or even 80, as a passing mark. 

The theory underlying the granting of percentages is that the 
student is graded in terms of absolute proficiency. If he gets 90 in 
an examination in arithmetic or spelling, he has done 90% of the 
examination correctly. The system works fairly well here. But 
it falls down completely in such subjects as English composition, 
or history or geography, etc. For who knows what is absolute 
proficiency in composition work for 5th grade children? How 
does such a standard differ from that of the 4th grade, or that 
of the 6th grade? Actually in ordinary practice the grades repre- 
sent at best only a certain percentage of what the teacher con- 
siders the class can do. It is based on two very variable things — ■ 
the teacher's estimate of what the class can do, and second — the 
class itself. If the class is better than usual, the teacher's grades 
stand for better work than usual; if the class is poorer than usual, 
the teacher's grades represent poorer work than usual. Despite 
the best efforts of any teacher his grades are not standardized 
on the basis of a fixed absolute standard but vary with the 
calibre of his pupils. It is impossible under such conditions to 
ever expect that a ''85 " will represent a definite standard of work 
in a particular course. The 85 will vary from year to year with 
the same teacher, and it will vary with every two teachers, 
depending on those teacher's estimates of what a class can do. 

191 



192 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

(All of these statements have been substantiated in every investi- 
gation on this subject and are no longer open to argument.) 

The Jury System of Grading. — In some cases grades are awarded 
by a committee or jury instead of by one instructor. This 
system eliminates a good deal of the personal bias of a particular 
instructor and undoubtedly does tend to standardize the grades. 
It is especially applicable in grading performance in art, archi- 
tecture, music, and the like. The system is also used in this 
way. All the instructors of Freshman mathematics, as a 
committee, draw up the examination questions. Later each 
instructor grades one question in all the papers of all the 
sections. Here the examination questions are more carefully 
considered than is usually the case, and each question is marked 
for all papers in as nearly the same manner as it is humanly 
possible to provide. But the jury system does not eliminate 
marked variations in grading between juries. 

Grading on Basis of Five Groups.— The other most universally 
used system of grading students is to give the students grades 
in terms of about five letters or numbers, such as A, B, C, D, 
and F; or E, S, M, I, and F; or again 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The A, E, 
or 1 is given to the best students; the B, S, or 2, to the next best 
group, etc. The F or 5 is considered as failure. Sometimes the 
fourth grade, D, I, or 4 is "not passing" and sometimes it is 
considered as "conditioned" requiring another examination. 
At still other institutions D is a passing grade but entitles the 
student to but 80 % credit, so that in a 5-hour course the student 
with a D will receive but 4 hours credit. 

It is because of insurmountable difficulties pointed out above 
in connection with the percentage system of marking that thie 
system of grading students with five letters has arisen. The 
whole scheme of grading students on the basis of an absoluts 
standard of perfection is thrown away, or almost thrown away.^ 
The teacher then roughly divides the class into five groups, the 
excellent students, the good, the fair, the inferior, and the failures. 
More or less of the old scheme survives in the case of deciding 

^ Of course, in those cases where a teacher marks a student by these five 
letters but always translates the letter into a numerical figure so that A 
equals 100 to 95; B, 95 to 85; etc., he is practically following the first scheme 
and not the second. When the second scheme is used properly there are no 
numerical values attached to the letters. 



27 



METHODS OF GRADING STUDENTS 



193 



just what will constitute a passing standard as distinguished from 
a failure. The essential thing, however, is the division of the 
glass into five groups in terms of their general ability and per- 
formance in the particular class. 

Anyone famihar with the laws underlying individual differ- 
ences immediately realizes that these five groups should not 
contain an equal number of students; — that the largest number of 
students should be in the middle group, and that relatively few 
should be in the two extreme groups, the excellent students and 
the failures. But the study of how teachers grade students shows 
clearly that teachers differ enormously as to how they distribute 
their grades under this scheme. In Table IX is shown the dis- 
tribution of grades in seven courses in the University of Missouri 
prior to 1908. It is clear from this table, and it represents 
conditions in every institution of that time and most institutions 
today, that a student could quite easily win "honors," or a 
scholarship, or make Phi Beta Kappa by electing Philosophy, 
Economics, etc., but would have an extremely small chance of 
obtaining these honors if he grouped in Chemistry. Yet an 
"A" counted equally toward these honors whether obtained in 
Philosophy or Chemistry III. In the same way a poor student 
would have little trouble in passing Philosophy but would stand 
a good chance of being "flunked" in English II or Chemistry III. 



Table IX. — Showing the Relative Frequency of Four Grades A, 

B, C, AND F AS Found by Max Meyer in the University of 

Missouri in 1907 ' 



Course 


Distribution of Grades 


Total No. 
of Students 
Considered 


A 


B 


C 


F 


Philosophy 

Economics 

German II 


55 
39 
26 
18 
18 
9 
1 


33 
37 

38 
38 
26 
28 
11 


10 
19 
25 
35 
42 
35 
60 


2 
5 
11 
9 
14 
28 
28 


623 
161 
941 


Education 

Mechanics 

English II 


266 

495 

1098 


Chemistry III 


1903 



iMax Meyer, The Grading of Students, Science, Aug. 21, 1908, p. 3. 
13 



194 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

The problem educators are now facing in regard to grading 
students is how to make an "A" or "F" mean the same thing 
whether given by Prof. Smith or Prof. Brown, whether given in, 
Philosophy or Chemistry, whether given in 1915 or 1917. 

An important step toward obtaining equitable grading has 
been to apply the conception of our normal surface of distribu- 
tion to the problem. Any group of students (barring excep- 
tional cases considered below) will divide themselves up into 
inferior, average, and superior students and these three groups 
will approximate 25 %, 50 % and 25 % in size, respectively. They 
will do so if the method of grading them is fair. If, however, the 
examination is too easy or too difficult there will appear not a 
normal distribution but one in which there are too many superior 
or too many inferior students, respectively. If in two classes 
of 100 students. Prof. Smith and Prof. Brown require a fair 
amount of work, then 25% of the students will do superior work, 
50% average work and 25% inferior work. If Prof. Smith 
requires too much and Prof. Brown too little, then it may appear 
that the former has 40% inferior and 10% superior students 
whereas the latter has 10% inferior and 40% superior students. 
If we require each professor to grade 25 % of his students superior, 
50% average and 25% inferior, then we recognize (1) that one 
class of students taken as a whole is about equal to any other 
class and (2) that students are graded in terms of what an 
average student will do and not in terms of a variable standard 
of what is required by different instructors. In such a case we 
know that a "superior" student for Prof. Smith has actually 
done better work than ^ of the students in his class and that a 
"superior" student for Prof. Brown has likewise surpassed % of 
his class. A given grade is not then a grade in terms of any absolute 
siaiidard of 'perfection hut is a grade in terms of what average 
students do. 

With such a requirement the irregular grading shown in Table 
IX was eliminated to a large extent at the University of Missouri. 
The average of all the grades for the undergraduate courses 
became in 1911, 23.7% superior, 49.9% average, and 26.4 inferior. 
Nineteen of the instructors distributed their grades as shown in 
Table X. Comparison of the individual instructor's gradings 
in this table with those in Table IX shows an enormous improve- 
ment in the matter of uniform grading on the part of the faculty. 



27 



METHODS OF GRADING STUDENTS 



195 



An "E" now means nearly the same high grade of scholarship 
whether given by one instructor or another. The gradings in 
Table X are, however, still too irregular as respecting Grades "I" 
and "F" to be entirely satisfactory. 

The Missouri System of Grading. — ^As can be seen from Table 
X, the Missouri system of grading students provides first of all 



Table XI. — Showing the Relative Frequency of the Five Grades 

E, S, M, I, AND F, AS Used by Various Instructors in the 

University of Missouri in 191 1' 



Instructors 


% E 


% s 


% M 


%I 


%F 


A 


7 


29 


51 


8 


5 


B 


5 


23 


52 


15 


5 


C 


3 


21 


51 


21 


4 


D 


7 


21 


56 


8 


8 


E 


6 


15 


60 


13 


6 


F 


1 


22 


55 


17 


5 


G 


2 


17 


64 


11 


6 


H 


3 


21 


52 


18 


6 


I 


3 


24 


46 


21 


6 


J 


3 


20 


51 


20 


6 


K 


3 


20 


53 


16 


8 


L 


3 


23 


47 


17 


10 


M 


2 


19 


55 


14 


10 


N 


4 


19 


45 


23 


9 





5 


20 


43 


21 


11 


P 


7 


21 


47 


9 


16 


Q 


3 


13 


52 


19 


13 


R 


5 


11 


43 


29 


12 


S 


3 


15 


47 


20 


15 


Average 


3.9 

1 


19.7 


51.0 
51.0 


16.8 


8.5 




23 


.6 


2 


5.3 



for the students being divided into three groups — superior, 
average, and inferior — so that the first group comprises the best 
25% of the students, the second group the middle 50%, and the 
third the remainder. The superior and inferior are further 

^ Based on the "Report of the Committee on Statistics on the Grading of 
the Semester," Closing Feb., 1911. 



19G INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

divided so that in effect there are five grades of E (excellent), 
S (superior), M (medium), I (inferior), and F (failure). As 
illustrated in Plate XXVIII the surface of distribution is so 
divided that the difference in ability represented by Grades E and 
S is equal to the difference between S and M, or M and I, or I 




Grades P 



Plate XXVIII. — A normal surface of [distribution divided up into five groups showing 
five grades of scholarship. At the University of Missouri these five grades are called 
F (failure), I (inferior), M (medium), S (superior), E (excellent) .|; 

and F. The standard which all instructors are expected to 
reach in their grading is then that 50% of the students shall 
receive an M, 22% an S, 22% an I, 3% an E, and 3% an F. 

One objection to this scheme will immediately occur to some 
readers. Maybe half the class has actually failed and you have 
given most of them a C or D. Will that method of marking be 
fair? Yes, certainly; for if half the class fails, who is to blame? 
Undoubtedly, in practically every case, no one but the teacher. 
The examination was too difficult, or too long, or because of 
poor discipline the students had not studied. This system throws 
the blame for poor work in the class on the person who deserves 
the blame — the teacher. Of course, sometimes a group of 
students will not work, then the only final resort is to "flunk" 
them. But such cases are rare as compared with those where 
the trouble lies in the main with the instructor. 

Here are the faculty rules of 1917 at George Peabody College 
for Teachers on this subject. They make plain that the above 



27 METHODS OF CRADING STUDENTS 197 

system applies directly to large classes anil only indirectly to 
small classes, and possibly not at all to exceptional classes, such 
as in graduate courses. 

"it is fair to assume that the average student in any undergraduate course 
is equal in ability to the average student in any other undergraduate course. 
Consequently it is fair to expect that all members of the faculty will in the 
long run (when they have marked 500 students, say) give approximately the 
same per cent, of students each of the five grades. 

"it is also fair to assume that the calibre of classes does vary, and that this 
is particularly true in the case of very small classes. Consequently it is fair 
to expect that the members of the faculty will vary considerably in the way 
they mark the members of particular classes. 

"We expect then in the long run that the members of the faculty will all 
use the same standards. We also expect, on the other hand, that there will 
be noticeable variation in the way individual classes will be marked. In the 
light of these assumptions, the following rules are laid down : 

"1. The quality of the student's work in a course shall be reported to the 
registrar by use of the following grades : A, B, C, D, and F. 

"2. The grade of 'C is designed to represent the performance of the mid- 
dle 50% of the class. The grades of 'B' and 'D' represent work that is 
superior and inferior, respectively, to that of the middle group. The grade 
of *A' is received for markedly superior work, while the grade . 
of 'F' is designed for those who have failed and shall receive no credit for 
their work. Students receiving the grade of 'D' will receive but 80% of 
the full credit attached to the course, i. e., in a five-hour course such a student 
will receive but four hours credit. 

"3. It is recognized that the more advanced the student the more selected ^ 
is the class with which he will be grouped and the system of marking will vary J 
proportionately. ' 

"4. Experience has shown that in the long run the instructor will give 
approximately 3% of his students an 'A,' 22% of his students a 'B,' 50% 
a 'C,' 22% a 'D,' and 3% an 'F'."' 

Such a uniformity of grades from the members of a faculty is 
highly desirable and is to be expected so long as it can be 
assumed that the calibre of students in one class is equivalent to 
tTiose in another class. If an instructor gives proportionately 
more low or high grades in his classes than this ideal, he declares 
in so doing that his students are poorer or better than the stu- 
dents in other classes. This is, of course, in many cases an 
actual fact, and when so, an instructor should mark accordingly. 
But in the ordinary course of events one class is pretty nearly 
equivalent to another class as far as ability of the students 
composing it is concerned. 



198 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

Varying the Amount of Credit with the Grade Given. — The Uni- 
versity of Missouri further provides that students shall obtain 
varying amounts of credit for their work according as they obtain 
high or low grades. At the present time in a one hour course, a 
student obtaining an E earns 1.2 hours credit, a student obtaining 
an S earns 1.1 hours credit, a student obtaining an M earns 1.0 
hour credit, a student obtaining an I earns 0.9 hour credit, and a 
student obtaining an F earns credit. 

The Carnegie Institute of Technology System of Grading. — 
Two differences, one significant and one slight, are to be found 
between the Carnegie Institute of Technology system of grading 
and that of the University of Missouri. In the former, grades 
are recognized as of two sorts, those for passing work and those 
for work below passing. No attempt is made to legislate as to 
what per cent, of students shall pass in a particular course. That 
is left entirely to the instructor, or his department, for in many 
departments the jury system of marking is employed. This is 
the significant difference referred to above. It rests upon the 
assumption that an instructor can arrange passing students in 
order from best to poorest and he can arrange failing students 
similarly in order of merit, but he can not view passing and 
failing students as belonging to the same group. Professor 
Meyer, who has been responsible for the Missouri System and 
for much of the advance in thinking on this whole subject, writes 
that he has become "more and more convinced that in determin- 
ing the final grade the group grade should be applied only after 
the failures have been selected." 

The insignificant difference pertains to the number of grades, 
and their distribution. At Carnegie Institute of Technology, 
A and B are given to the best third of passing students, C to the 
middle third, and D and E to the lowest third of passing stu- 
dents. Distribution based on thirds was agreed upon because 
it fitted the distribution of all grades given at the time the 
system was adopted. In addition to the five passing grades, 
I is given to students whose work has been satisfactory except 
that part is not yet finished; F to students who are privileged to 
take a reexamination, and R to students who must repeat the 
course. 

Points for Quality. — Students are required not only to complete 
a certain quantity of work, but also to attain a certain standard 



27 METHODS OF GRADING STUDENTS 199 

of quality. The passing grades carry the following points of 
quality:— A, 4 points; B, 3 points; C, 2 points; D, 1 point; and 
E,' points. A student may pass in all his work but receive too 
few quality points to meet the requirements and so be dropped. 

Present Tendencies in Grading 

Among colleges and universities the tendency is away from the 
percentage system to the group system and to a less extent toward 
the Missouri system, which has been adopted more or less entirely 
in a number of institutions. 

Among secondary schools, today, 30% employ percentage 
systems and 65% the group system. Of those using the group 
system, 44% have three grades above passing, 52% have four 
grades, and 4% have five grades. The National Conference 
Committee on Standards of Colleges and Secondary Colleges 
recommends that, "if a group system is used, the letters A, B, C, 
or A, B, C, D be employed to indicate passing grades, and that 
E or F, or both E and F, be reserved for failure. The committee 
calls attention to the fact that the majority of colleges use four 
groups above passing, and that the tendency in schools appears 
to be in that direction. 

"The committee recommends that schools using a percentage 
system follow what appears to be the most common practice, 
of using 60 as the passing grade. ^ 

Discussion of the Problem Assigned in Lesson 26 

With these general considerations before us let us turn now and 
consider the problem which was assigned in Lesson 26. 

The Surfaces of Distribution ; What They Show. — The grades 
from the three examinations given in Lesson 26 are plotted in 
surfaces of distribution in Plate XXIX. The three surfaces 
approximate the normal surface of distribution. The first one 
is long drawn out: The effect obtained when the examination is 
too difficult. The low grades show the same fact. The second 
distribution is skewed — most of the grades are bunched at the 
upper end. This is characteristic of too easy an examination 
or one where nearly all could answer the questions in the alloted 
time. If the time had been cut in half the distribution would 
have resembled that of the third examination. 

1 Report in School and Society, March 1, 1918, by Headmaster Ferrand. 



200 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

If we followed the old scheme of marking where, say, 60 was 
the passing mark, we would, in the first examination, if we were 
true to our standards and had the requisite courage, fail all but 
one in the class. In the second examination we would pass 
every one, and in the third we would fail 17, or 71% of the class. 
Averaging the three sets of grades we obtain the results given 
at the bottom of Plate XXIX. These grades would necessitate 
our failing 14 members of the class, or 58%. If the passing 
grade were 75 all but one of the class would fail. If it were 50 
then 7 would fail, or 29 %. 

This example is an extreme one, but is based on an actual case. 
It is, however, useful here as it points out in an exaggerated form 
the real situation that confronts the majority of instructors in 
their marking of students' papers. The grades a class actually 
receives, considering the class as a whole, are dependent on the 
instructor and him alone. If the examination is difficult the 
class as a whole gets low grades, if the examination is easy the 
class as a whole gets high grades. Instructors who mark low are 
generally instructors who require much from their students, 
while instructors who mark high do not require enough. Of 
course, there are many exceptions to this rule. To set up a 
standard such as 60 or 75 as a passing mark is to postulate that 
the instructor is omniscient, that he knows exactly how easy or 
difficult to make an examination. 

The best method of grading is to assume that the average 
student in one class is equal to the average student in another. 
This assumption is correct remarkably often, as determined by 
actual investigations. When this is done, if one is using the 
Missouri system of grading, the middle half of the class, regardless 
of whether they obtain 30, 85, or 50, are graded C. The upper 
fourth are graded A or B, and the lower fourth, DorF. Theoreti- 
cally 3% should receive an A and an equal number an F. In 
actual practice, an instructor should feel free to give no A or F, or 
several, depending on the circumstances of the case. On the 
basis of Plate XXIX. 

1 student would receive an A, or 4% 
6 students would receive a B, or 25% 

10 students would receive a C, or 42% 
5 students would receive a D, or 21% 

2 students would receive an F, or 8 % 



27 



METHODS OF GRADING STUDENTS 



201 



The A and F grades must depend on circumstances. 

In this particular case Student 1 is so far ahead that he alone 
would be given an ''A" unless the work of the class, including I's 
work, was not very good. In the same way no grade of "F" 
might be given if the work of 23 and 24 was acceptable; or if the 
work was poor 19 might also be given an "F." But in the long 



11 



till i1 



II u 
ly iH II 1 

4$ i3 10 i 



3 i 



/ 



B A 



Z3 



It 



n 2/ 

It Ik 
7 9 
3 S 



IS" 

if 13 
If. *» 

Z t 



M 





lily 






Zl i> iS 




13 11 


20 7 f 


If s 


13 .7 i1 


<? r 2 


le S 1 M 







iS 








\\o 






11 


.» 






U 


II It 


\ts 


ZY 


20 


.0 i 


^ i 


P 'i.'I 


•ffj. 


H Z. 



^•^S^SaSIStJSiSSlSlSSfcS^^^I 



--•a4w3^d{5iS 



iS i^SiSiS^Si^ 



Plate XXIX —The examination grades given in Table IX and the computed 
final grades plotted in surfaces of distribution, together with their conversion 
into Grades A, B, C, D and F. 



202 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

run, the instructor should give grades approximately as follows ; — 
A— 3%, B— 22%, C— 50%, D— 22% and F— 3%. 

If one were using the Carnegie Institute of Technology system 
of grading, the merits of each individual student wovild be con- 
sidered, starting possibly with the poorest, and it would be 
decided whether each had passed or failed. Those who had 
passed would then be divided into thirds, as described above. 

How TO Grade Papers 

There are undoubtedly many good methods of grading a 
student's paper. Circumstances will determine whether one 
will read the whole paper through and grade it as a whole, or 
whether one will grade each part and then total the parts. The 
two give about the same result. Regardless of how the papers 
are individually scored, when that operation is done, one should 
convert the temporary grades into the grades A, B, C, D, and F. 
Divide the class into four fairly equal groups. Grade the first 
group A and B, the two middle groups C, and the fourth group 
D and F. If there are any exceptionally good or bad papers 
grade them A, or F, accordingly. 

Some instructors find the easiest method is to read the paper 
through, judge its total value and place it in one of seven 
piles according to its merit. When all are finished the piles are 
readjusted if the first two do not contain approximately 25%, the 
next three 50% and the last two 25%. They are then graded, 
respectively. A, B, C+, C, C — , D and F. Practically nothing 
is gained by the subdivision of Group C into three sub-divisions, 
except to make the instructor feel he is doing a more accurate job. 

How to Record Grades. — In Table XI are presented three 
methods of keeping a class-record. The first method consists in 
grading in terms of figures from to 100, recording these figures 
and finally averaging them. This method has little justification. 
The manipulations of large figures takes too long a time,' even 
when one has an adding machine at his disposal. 

The second method consists of recording the letter grades. It 
is satisfactory, except when it comes to averaging up the records. 
With only three examinations to average there is little trouble, 
but if one has to average ten grades, how shall he do it? For 
example, how would you finally grade students who received (a) 
A, B, C, C, D, B, C, C, F, and B and (b) B, B, C, D, B, D, C, C, C, 



27 



METHODS OF GRADING STUDENTS 



203 



and A? The easiest method of keeping one's record book and a 
method as rehable as any other is that shown as the third method 
injjTable XI. The letters A, B, C, D, and F are represented 

Table XI. — Examination Grades, Given in Table VIII, Averaged by 
Three Different Methods 





First method 


Second method 


Third method 


Stu- 
dent 


1st 


2nd 


3rd 


Av. 


By 

. let- 
ters 


1st 


2nd 


3rd 


Av. 


1st 


2nd 


3rd 


Av. 


By 

let- 
ters 


1 


60 


100 


70 


77 


A 


A 


A 


B 


A 


4 


4 


3 


3.7 


A 


2 


55 


90 


55 


67 


B 


B 


B 


C 


B 


3 


3 


2 


2.7 


B 


3 


50 


80 


80 


70 


B 


B 


C 


A 


B 


3 


2 


4 


3.0 


B 


4 


45 


95 


55 


65 


B 


B 


B 


C 


B 


3 


3 


2 


2.7 


B 


5 


45 


85 


70 


67 


B 


B 


C 


B 


B 


3 


2 


3 


2.7 


B 


6 


40 


95 


50 


62 


B 


B 


B 


C 


B 


3 


3 


2 


2.7 


B 


7 


40 


80 


50 


57 


C 


B 


C 


C 


C 


3 


2 


2 


2.3 


C 


8 


35 


70 


65 


57 


C 


C 


D 


B 


C 


2 


1 


3 


2.0 


C 


9 


35 


85 


45 


55 


c 


C 


C 


C 


C 


2 


2 


2 


2.0 


c 


10 


30 


75 


60 


55 


c 


C 


D 


B 


c 


2 


1 


3 


2.0 


c 


11 


30 


80 


50 


53 


c 


C 


C 


C 


c 


2 


2 


2 


2.0 


c 


12 


30 


90 


75 


65 


B 


C 


B 


B 


B 


2 


3 


3 


2.7 


B 


13 


25 


95 


30 


50 


c 


C 


B 


D 


C 


2 


3 


1 


2.0 


c 


14 


25 


90 


60 


58 


c 


C 


B 


B 


B 


2 


3 


3 


2.7 


B 


15 


20 


90 


55 


53 


c 


C 


B 


C 


C 


2 


3 


2 


2.3 


C 


16 


20 


85 


55 


53 


c 


C 


C 


C 


C 


2 


2 


2 


2.0 


c 


17 


20 


80 


35 


45 


D 


C 


C 


D 


D 


2 


2 


1 


1.7 


D 


18 


15 


100 


50 


55 


C 


D 


A 


C 


C 




4 


2 


2.3 


C 


19 


15 


65 


40 


40 


D 


D 


D 


D 


D 




1 


1 


1.0 


D 


20 


10 


80 


45 


45 


D 


D 


C 


C 


D 




2 


2 


1.7 


D 


21 


10 


85 


35 


43 


D 


D 


C 


D 


D 




2 


1 


1.3 


D 


22 


5 


85 


45 


45 


D 


D 


C 


C 


D 




2 


2 


1.7 


D 


23 


5 


60 


30 


32 


F 


D 


F 


D 


F 







1 


0.7 


F 


24 





75 


75 


33 


F 


F 


D 


F 


F 





1 





0.3 


F 



in the record-book by the figures 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0, respec- 
tively. (Figures are easier to write than letters to begin with, 
and they can readily be averaged. Contrast the labor involved 
in averaging them with that of averaging the figures employed 
in the first method.) Averages between and 0.5 would then be 
graded F; between 0.5 and 1.5, D; between 1.5 and 2.5, C; 



204 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



between 2.5 and 3.5, B; and between 3.5 and 4, A. This scheme 
tends, however, to give too many C's and too few of the other 
grades. A better method is as follows: Before making out one's 
final grades, plot the average grades in the surface of distribution 
as shown in Plate XXX, and award the final grades according 
to their position on that surface. 

A comparison of the final grades awarded in Plates XXIX and 
XXX shows that they are almost identical. The laborious at- 
tempt at great accuracy pursued in the first method of recording 
grades (see Table XI and Plate XXIX) gives practically the 
same results as those obtained by the easier third method (see 



f D C B 


A 


t 1 










ly 


li 








ti 


)Z 








11 


1, 






n 


10 li 


S 






10 


1 IS 


y 




. 2y2? 


H Zl ti 


i 7 


LLi 


» 



Plate XXX. — The final grades, computed according to the third method in 
Table XII, plotted in a surface of distribution. 

Table XI and Plate XXX). And in the case of Student 14, 
after all, which is the fairer grade for him, a "C" or a "B"? 

A rather technical point ought to be known to teachers. In 
any system of averaging grades it is possible for a student who 
has never been graded best in any assignment to obtain the high- 
est average grade, and likewise for a student who has just 
"scraped through" every assignment, to be graded lower on the 
average than one who has failed in many assignments. A 
student who has been consistently B or D (E representing failure) 
should not necessarily be graded A or E just because A students 
part of the time have also received low marks or E students part 
of the time have also received high grades. 

Conclusion 

We are graded in life not according to some ideal standard of 
perfection, but in comparison with our fellows, particularly our 
competitors. Edison is great, not because he approximates 



27 METHODS OF GRADING STUDENTS 205 

perfection but because he is superior to other men. We have 
no standard of perfection as such. Our minister, or lawyer, or 
music teacher, or grocer is superior or inferior in comparison 
with other ministers, lawyers, music teachers, or grocers we 
know. The grading of students should be made frankly on the 
same basis, until such time as definite standards have been estab- 
lished and -precise methods of ascertaining that a student has or 
has not attained the standard have been developed. At the 
present time such standards, or norms, have been set up in hand- 
writing, spelling and a few other cases. 



LESSON 28 
COEFFICIENT OF CORRELATION 

In Lesson 20 a preliminary study was made as to whether those 
who were best at the start were best at the end in such training 
as doing the mirror-drawing experiment. After we had arranged 
the ten individuals A to J (see Table III) with respect to their 
initial and final abilities we found it difficult to express just what 
the relationship between the two orders was. In this lesson we 
shall attempt a more satisfactory study of this point. 

So far we have considered the average and the average devia- 
tion as measurements which help us in our study of individual 
differences. Still another measurement is needed: — ^the coeffici- 
ent of correlation. This measurement is needed when we attempt 
to compare the order of superiority of a group of individuals at 
one time with their order obtained at another time. For ex- 
ample, in the results obtained from Lesson 20, just what is the 
relationship between the two orders? On the whole, we can 
see that those who ree best at the start are best at the end; still 
there are exceptions. And if, instead of B holding 1st and 4th 
positions, respectively, he held 1st and 10th positions (i. e., had 
a final score of 90), we would find it extremely difficult to state 
just how this change had really affected the entire relationship 
between the two sets of figures. Here are these two cases: — 



206 



28 



COEFFICIENT OF CORRELATION 



207 



Case I 






Case II 




(Based on actual data) 






(B's data altered) 




Initial Ability 


Final 


Ability 


Initial 


Ability 


Final 


Ability 


B 76 


G 


35 


B 


76 


G 


35 


I 129 


J 


30 


I 


129 


J 


36 


J 131 


I 


40 


J 


131 


I 


40 


C 210 


B 


50 


C 


210 


E 


52 


E 216 


E 


52 


E 


216 


C 


58 


A 232 


C 


58 


A 


232 


H 


00 


G 283 


H 


60 


G 


283 


A 


61 


F 286 


A 


61 


F 


286 


F 


70 


D 363 


F 


70 


D 


363 


D 


85 


H 701 


D 


85 


H 


701 


B 


90 



From a study of the two sets of relationships it is clear that 
there is a closer relationship in the first case than in the second. 
But it is impossible to estimate this difference by looking at the 
figures. We need some clear and definite method of expressing 
such relationships. This is exactly what the coefficient of 
correlation gives us. Below is an example fully worked out. 
Study it carefully so as to be able to obtain the coefficient of 
correlation in similar examples yourself. (Only advanced 
students in psychology or education are called upon to use cor- 
relation, but the term is used very freely in gatherings of educators 
today and should at least be comprehended by all.) 

How TO Obtain a Coefficient of Correlation 

The several steps involved in obtaining a coefficient of correla- 
tion are as follows : — 

1, Arrange your individuals in order of merit in the two cases to 
be studied. (If two or more individuals are tied, then the follow- 
ing scheme is to be followed : Suppose 12 children received these 
grades in arithmetic— A, 100; B, 90; C, 90; D, 85; E, 80; F, 80; 
G, 80; H, 75; I, 75; J, 75; K, 75; and L, 70. Then rank A 
as 1; B and C as 2}^ (i. e., the average of 2 and 3); D as 4; E, 
F, and G as 6 (i.e., the average of 5, 6, and 7); H, I, J, and K as 
9>^ (i. e., the average of 8, 9, 10 and 11); and L, as 12.) 



208 



INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



2. Obtain the differences in the rank of each individual in the 
two ratings (d). 

3. Square these differences (d-). 

4. Obtain the sum of these squared differences (^d^). 

5. Multiply this sum by 6 (GSd^). 

6. Count up the number of individuals being studied (n), 
square this number (n^), subtract 1 from that (n^ — 1), and then 
multiply the difference by the number (n(n2 — 1)). 

7. Divide the amount obtained in the 5th step by the amount 
obtained in the 6th step. 

8. Subtract this decimal from 1.00, observing algebraic signs. 
This final decimal is the coefficient of correlation. 

Here is the solution of the coefficient of correlation of the first 
set of figures. (Case 1.) 



Initial ability- 


Final ability 


Indi- 
vidual 


Differences in 
rank 


Differ- 


Rank 


Individual 


Rank 


Individual 


con- 
sidered 


ences 
squared 


1 
2 
3 

4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 


B 
I 
J 
C 
E 
A 
G 
F 
D 
H 


1 
2 
3 

4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 


G 
J 
I 
B 
E 
C 
H 
A 
F 
D 


B 
I 
J 

C 
E 
A 
G 
F 
D 
H 


1-4 = - 3 
2-3 = - 1 
3 - 2 = 1 
4-6 = - 2 
5 - 5 = 
6-8 = - 2 
7 - 1 = 6 
8-9 = - 1 
9 - 10 = - 1 
10 - 7 = 3 

Total 


9 
1 
1 
4 

4 
36 
1 
1 
9 

66 



Formula for coefficient of correlation (the letter "r" is the 
common abbreviation for this term) :— 

d^ = the differences squared, illustrated 



r = 1 



r = 1 - 



62d2 



by the ten squared deviations in 
the last column. 



n (n^-l) 

6 X C6 2d" = the sum of all the squared deviations, 



10 (100-1) 



as 66 above. 



28 



COEFFICIENT OF CORRELATION 



209 



r = 1 



396 
990 



the nunil)er of individuals being con- 
sidered, as 10 in this case, i. e., the 
10 individuals, A-J. 



1-0.40 
+ 0.60 



The coefficient of correlation (r) between initial ability and final 
ability in the case of these 10 individuals is +0.60. 

Here is the solution of the coefficient of correlation of the 
second set of figures above. (Case 2.) 



Rank 


Initial ability 


Final ability 


Differences 
in rank 


Differences 
squared 


1 


B 


G 


-9 


81 


2 


I 


J 


— 1 




3 


J 


I 






4 


C 


E 


— 1 




5 


E 


C 






6 


A 


H 


— 1 




7 


G 


A 


6 


36 


8 


F 


F 








9 


D 


D 








10 


H 


B 


4 


16 

138 



r = 1 - 



62d^ 



n(n2-l) 



= 1 



6X 138 

10(100- 1; 



1- 



828 
990 



= 1 - 0.84 = + 0.16 



What a Coefficient of Correlation Means 

"Correlation expresses to what extent two traits vary coordi- 
nately, independently, or antagonistically."^ For example, 
scholarship varies coordinately with intelligence, independently 
of an alphabetic list of the class and antagonistically to the pres- 
ence of ill health. In other words, (1) the best scholar is most 
likely to be the brightest child in the class, the poorest scholar 
to be the dullest child in the class; (2) the best scholar is no more 
likely to be the student whose name is Aaron than Zullen, and 

^Joseph Jastrow, Character and Temperament, 1915, p. 509. 
14 



210 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

the same is true respecting the poorest scholar; (3) the best 
scholar is most likely to be the child with the least sickness, while 
the poorest scholar is most likely to be the child with the most 
sickness. 

A coefficient of correlation of +1.00 means that the two traits 
vary coordinately and perfectly so; a correlation of +0.75 means 
that the traits vary coordinately but not perfectly so; a correla- 
tion of means that the two traits vary independently; and a 
correlation of —1.00 means that the two traits vary antagonisti- 
cally. Coefficients of correlation range, then, from +1.00 
through to — 1.00; any single number having a certain signifi- 
cance on a scale from coordinate variability, through independent 
variability to antagonistic variability. 

The correlation of +0.60 which was obtained between initial 
performance and final performance in the mirror-drawing 
experiment means that on the whole the best at the start was 
best at the end, the poorest at the start was poorest at the end, 
the fifth at the start was fifth at the end, etc. If it had been 
exactly this relationship we would have had a correlation of 
+ 1.00. As we had less than +1.00, i. e., +0.60, it means that a 
few of the individuals were out of place from this perfect arrange- 
ment. This we find in the cases of G, B, and H; G advancing 
from seventh to first place, B dropping back from first to fourth 
place, and H advancing from tenth to seventh. Besides these 
decided changes in position, all the other individuals except E 
change place to a sHght extent. Now in the case of our second 
case with its correlation of +0.16, we have a statement which 
indicates that there is practically no relationship between 
the two sets of figures. We can expect that only to a very slight 
extent will it be true that the best at the start will be the best at 
the end and the poorest at the start will be poorest at the end. 
Rather will we expect to find decided differences between the 
two groups of figures such as B's change from first to last place, 
G's change from seventh to first place, and H's change from 
tenth to sixth place. 

Assignment for Laboratory Hour 

Obtain the coefficient of correlation for the problems given 
below. Do as many of these problems as you can during the 
laboratory hour. Check up your answer for each example, 



28 



COEFFICIENT OF CORRELATION 



211 



through consultation with the instructor, before going on to the 
next problem. 

Records op Ten Individuals in Mirror-drawing Experiment 



Trials 


A 


B 


C 


D 


E 


F 


G 


H 


I 


J 


1 


232 


76 


210 


363 


216 


286 


283 


701 


129 


131 


5 


133 


70 


108 


132 


110 


97 


76 


98 


84 


75 


10 


88 


54 


71 


121 


75 


89 


56 


72 


55 


49 


15 


89 


53 


60 


86 


75 


81 


43 


55 


59 


38 


20 


61 


50 


58 


85 


52 


70 


35 


60 


40 


36 



1. Obtain the correlation between the fifth performance and 
the final performance in the mirror-drawing experiment. 

2. Obtain the correlation between the tenth performance and 
the final performance. 

3. Obtain the correlation between the fifteenth performance 
and the final performance. 

4. Suppose the following grades had been given to ten students 
in High School, what would be the correlation between their 
grades in (a) algebra and English, (6) algebra and Latin, and (c) 
algebra and biology? 



Students 


Algebra 


English 


Latin 


Biology 


A 


98 


A 


F 


83 


B 


96 


A- 


D- 


94 


C 


93 


B + 


D 


86 


D 


89 


B 


C- 


72 


E 


85 


B- 


C 


91 


F 


84 


c+ 


C + 


88 


G 


82 


c 


B- 


69 


H 


80 


c- 


B 


95 


I 


75 


D 


A- 


77 


J 


70 


F 


A 


90 



5. Answer the following questions: — 

(a) What does a correlation of +1-00 mean? 

(b) What does a correlation of —1.00 mean? 



212 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

(c) What does a correlation of mean? 

(d) Could you have a correlation larger than +1-00 or smaller 
than -1.00? 

6. Study these two statements until you feel that you compre- 
hend somewhat of their meaning: — (1) Two individuals selected 
at random will have a correlation of with respect to any trait, 
two brothers will have a correlation of about +0.40 with respect 
to any trait, and two twins will have a correlation of about +0.80 
with respect to any trait. (2) Similarly father and son will 
correlate about +0.30 while grandfather and grandchild will 
correlate about +0.16. 

Hand in your report drawn up in the usual way at the next 
class-hour. 



LESSON 29 

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN HUMAN TRAITS- 
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS 

The Relationship Between Human Traits 

In our everyday life we are constantly contradicting the prin- 
ciples set forth in Lesson 25. For we speak of people as either 
good or bad, honest or dishonest, brave or cowardly, blondes or 
brunettes, tall or short, and so on. In this way, we divide people 
up into two or more groups. But the conception developed in 
connection with the surface of distribution was that individuals 
belong to one group with respect to any trait. We saw further 
in that lesson that individuals differ greatly in some traits, as 
in the case of intelhgence, where they range all the way from idiots 
to geniuses. But the great bulk of individuals are all much alike 
and the number of individuals who differ from the average 
decreases very rapidly as the amount of that difference' is 
increased. 

In our everyday life we are also constantly contradicting 
another principle already touched on in Lessons 20, 21, and 28. 
For we assume that poor ability in one respect is com-peiisated 
for by good ability in another. So we say over and over, "I 
never was any good in mathematics but always got good grades 
in languages," or vice versa. Or we say of a stupid boy, "He 
just can't get his school work but it's wonderful how handy he 
is with tools. You should see the table he made." We really 
mean in such cases that because the boy can't get his lessons, 
therefore, he is better than most boys in manual training. It 
would be very nice if this were the case. But unfortunately 
it is not. Many investigations in which correlations have been 
made between ability in two traits have shown that negative 
correlations are seldom found. This means that superiority 
in one trait is seldom accompanied by inferiority in some other 
desirable trait. In other words, superiority in one trait is usually 

213 



214 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

accompanied more or less by superiority in all traits and inferior- 
ity in one is accompanied by inferiority in all. Individual excep- 
tions occur from time to time, but not so often as we popularly 
assume. The correlations between school subjects, according to 
Starch^ are as follows: 

Arithmetic and Language +0.85 Language and Spelling. . . . +0.71 

Arithmetic and Geography. . . .83 Geography and History ... . .81 

Arithmetic and History .73 Geography and Reading. . . .80 

Arithmetic and Reading .67 Geography and Spelling. ... .52 

Arithmetic and Spelling .55 History and Reading .67 

Language and Geography .85 History and Spelling .37 

Language and History .77 Reading and Spelling .58 

Language and Reading .83 

Starch goes on to state that 'Hhese correlations are almost 
twice as high as those previously quoted^ and represent very 
close correlations. They would warrant the interpretation that 
the pupil who is good, mediocre, or poor, in a given subject, is good, 
mediocre, or poor, to very nearly the same, but not equal, degree 
in all other subjects so far as his abilities are concerned. Such 
lack of agreement as does exist is due probably to a difference of 
interest and industry on the part of the pvipil in different subjects 
and to a real difference in abihties in the various fields. Thus 
spelling ability correlates apparently less closely with ability 
in other subjects than abilities in these other subjects correlate 
among themselves." 

Many pages of data could be presented to sustain the point 
that ''intellectual and scholastic abilities are for the most part 
closely correlated." 

How Coefficients of Correlation are Utilized in 
Psychology and Education 

The correlations between various school subjects, just quoted, 
illustrate one use to which this mathematical method of measur- 
ing to what an extent two traits vary has been put. Such ques- 
tions as this one and many others of a similar nature confront 
the psychologist and educator. Let us consider some other 
examples where correlation has been used. 

1 D. Starch, Educational Psychology, 1920, pp. 56-57. 

2 E. L. Thorndike, Educational Psychology, 1903, p. 37ff 



29 CORRELATION BETWEEN HUMAN TRAITS 215 

The data on initial and final performance in mirror-drawing 
was reduced to the one figm-e +0.60, which expresses the extent 
to which these two abilities vary coordinately. 

The writer^ wished to determine whether the results he had 
obtained in rating the efficiency of advertisements by a laboratory 
method would check up with business conditions. He therefore 
correlated the results he had obtained by two different laboratory 
methods with each other and with the ratings of these advertise- 
ments as furnished him (a) by the owners of the business and 
(b) by the advertising agency representing the business concern. 

He obtained these correlations: — 

Correlation between the results of the two laboratory 

methods +0.95 

Correlation between the results of first laboratory method 

and the company rating +0 . 89 

Correlation between the results of-first laboratory method 

and the agency rating +0 . 87 

Correlation between the results of second laboratory 

method and the company rating + . 84 

Correlation between the results of second laboratory 

method and the agency rating +0.92 

Correlation between the company rating and the agency 

rating +0.87 

Apparently then the laboratory methods of estimating the 
efficiency of these advertisements were as accurate as the methods 
of the company or of its advertising experts. That meant that 
the writer who knew nothing about advertising in those days, nor 
about this particular business, could determine the efficiency of 
its advertisements as accurately as could the men who made 
these things their specialty. 

Take another example. Yerkes of Harvard University 
devised a series of tests (The Yerkes-Bridges Point Scale Test) 
whereby the general intelligence of children can be estimated 
surprisingly accurately. Garrison^ tried the tests on college 
students and obtained a correlation of only +0.19 between the 
ratings given the students by the Yerkes test and their college 

1 Edward K. Strong, Jr., Relative Merit of AdverHsements,1911,p. llff. 

2 S. C. Garrison, The Yerkes Point Scale for Measuring Mental Ability 
as Applied to Normal Adults, School and Society, June 23, 1917. 



21G INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

grades; also a correlation of +0.15 between the test ratings and 
the combined opinions of eight professors as to the students' 
general ability. Of course neither college grades nor the com- 
bined opinions of professors accurately portray the real ability 
of college students. We all know that. Still they are accurate 
enough so that if a test does not correlate with them more than 
+0.19 we judge that the test is practically worthless. This low 
correlation means, then, that Yerkes' intelligence test is of little 
value in classifying adults in terms of their general intelligence. 
It is, on the other hand, as already stated, of real value in classify- 
ing children. 

When Kelley^ attacked the problem of how far he could go in 
prophesying what a student would do in high school on the basis of 
his records in grammer school, he obtained the correlations 
between the student's grades in the 4th to 7th grades (a 7-year 
grammer school was studied) and in the first year of high school. 
The final correlation was found to be +0.79 between grammar 
school and high school work. Kelley urges on the basis of his 
study that the grades of a child should be kept on a card for his 
entire school career, since they form the very best basis now 
obtainable from which we can estimate what a child will do in 
higher schooling. And it is quite likely when we come to know 
more about vocational guidance that we shall find these records 
of great value in scientifically guiding boys and girls into the 
careers for which they are most adapted. 

These examples are only three out of hundreds that might be 
given all going to show how necessary it is to obtain a coefficient 
of correlation in order to solve many psychological and educa- 
tional problems. At the present point in this course all that is 
desired is that you obtain an idea of how the correlation is 
obtained and something as to what it means. As you progress 
in your training along psychological and educational lines you 
will run across this topic again and again and after a time you 
will commence to feel at home with the subject. What a cor- 
relation means is a difficult conception to acquire and cannot be 
gotten in a few minutes or even in a few hours. It requires time 
in just the same way that it takes time to famiharize oneself with 
the centigrade thermometer or the metric system so that the 
various figures are immediately comprehended. 

' Truman L. Kelley, Vocational Guidance, 1914. 



29 CORRELATION BETWEEN HUMAN TRAITS 217 

Psychological Tests 

One of the fields of research in which correlation has been used 
most extensively is that of developing tests to measure mental 
abihty. Here we have the task of devising some test and then 
determining just how closely the scores in the test agree with the 
measure of the individual's ability in some other respect — the 
latter is spoken of as the criterion. For example, we are inter- 
ested in devising tests which will determine who can and who 
can not profit by a college education. When the test scores 
have been obtained, they are correlated with the grades these 
same students get in their college work. If the correlation is 
high, we decide that the test is a good one; if the correlation is 
low, the test is discarded or radically revised. In this way we 
test out the test before putting the test scores to use. 

Three types of psychological test are employed today: — (1) the 
intelligence test, (2) the trade or educational test, and (3) the 
vocational guidance test. 

Intelligence Tests 

The intelligence test measures the mental alertness of the 
individual. To the writer the intelHgence test measures the 
ability to learn and to retain what is learned. Possibly, in an 
indirect way, it is a measure of the chemical changes that take 
place in the brain which account for learning and retention. 
Psychologists are pretty well agreed that the capacity which is 
measured is innate and is very little affected by education or 
experience. 

The most famous intelligence test is that of Binet and Simon, 
two French psychologists, who first published their test in 1908. 
Its 1911 revision has been used very extensively. The Stanford 
revision, ^ the work of Terman, is accepted as one of the best tests 
of the sort for American children. The six year old test is as 
follows : — 

1. The child is asked, "Show me your right hand," then left 
ear, right eye, left hand, right ear, and finally the left eye. He 

1 L. M. Terman, The Measurement of Intelligence, 1916. (Used by per- 
mission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, 
the authorized pubhshers.) 



218 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

must get three correct out of three, or five correct out of six, or 
no score for this part is credited. If he gets the five correct, it 
counts "two months," as do each of the remaining five parts. 

2. The child is shown four pictures of human beings. In 
each picture a part is missing, as, the eye, the mouth, the nose, 
the arms. The child must point to the missing part in three of 
the four pictures, not consuming more than 25 seconds for each 
picture. 

3. The child must count correctly 13 pennies. He is allowed 
two trials. 

4. He must show his comprehension of two of these three 
questions : 

(a) What's the thing to do if it is raining when you start 

to school? 

(b) What's the thing to do if you find that your house is 

on fire? 

(c) What's the thing to do if you are going some place 

and miss your train (car) ? 

5. When asked "What is that?" and at the same time shown a 
"nickel," he must reply correctly. Also with "penny," "quar- 
ter," and "dime." Three out of four must be named correctly. 

6. He must repeat correctly word for word, after one read- 
ing, one of the following three sentences, or repeat two of them 
with not more than one word incorrect in each. 

(a) "We are having a fine time. We found a little mouse 

in the trap." 
(6) "Walter had a fine time on his vacation. He went 

fishing every day." 
(c) We will go out for a long walk. Please give me my 
pretty straw hat." 
The child is given such questions and scored in terms of what 
he can do. The total gives his mental age. Thus, he may be 
actually six years and six months old but scores in the test seven 
years and six months. He is spoken of as 7)^^ years mental age ; 
or one year older mentally than actually. 

Another measure is employed in this connection. That is the 
Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.). It is found by dividing the mental 
age by the actual age. In this case it would be 115 (dropping 
the decimal point). 



29 CORRELATION BETWEEN HUMAN TRAITS 219 

There are today a great variety of intelligence tests, many 
constructed quite differently from this one. The test known as 
Army Alpha was used to grade soldiers during the late war. It 
contained 212 questions. The numerical score was stated in 
terms of A, B, C + , C, C — , D, and E. (Refer to Lesson 25 where 
certain results of this test are discussed.) 

Twenty of the 212 questions were simple problems in arith- 
metic. Sixteen of them were as follows: — Check the best com- 
pletion to the statement "Gold is more suitable than iron for 
making money because gold is pretty ( ), iron rusts easily ( ), 
gold is scarcer and more valuable ( ). Another part of 40 ques- 
tions necessitated that the word "same" or "opposite" be under- 
lined according as the paired words meant nearly the same, or 
nearly the opposite. The first and last three pairs were: — ■ 
"cold — hot," "long — short," "bare — naked," "lugubrious — 
maudlin," "desuetude — disuse," "adventitious — accidental." 
(The words "same — opposite" were printed opposite each of the 
forty pairs.) 

The Binet test is typical of an individual test as it is so con- 
structed that it must be given to one individual at a time. The 
Army Alpha is typical of a group test; several hundred can be 
tested at one time. Individuals may be easily classified into 
groups on the basis of one or more group tests. In many cities 
children are so classified and placed in special classes for the 
mentally defective, the dull, the average, and the superior. But 
when careful diagnosis of an individual's mental condition is 
necessary, this has to be done by individual examination. 

Use of Mental Tests for College Entrance. — Considerable 
interest has been recently aroused by the introduction of mental 
tests as part of the machinery for deciding whether this or that 
student should be admitted to college. The time has not yet 
arrived definitely to evaluate their use in this connection. But 
let us consider one such study by Thurstone^ as to the relationship 
between scores in mental tests and scholastic work in college. 

The Freshman students in the Margaret Morrison College of 
Carnegie Institute of Technology were given six different tests 
and the scores combined into one final rating, so calculated as to 
range from —25 to +105. The distribution is shown in Plate 

* L. L. Thurstone, Mental Tests for College Entrance, Journal of Educa- 
tional Psychology, 1910, pp. 129-142. 



220 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

XXXI. The lower critical score at +10 was selected so as to 
divide off "the largest proportion of failures without excluding 
any students who have made good." If the Freshmen who fell 
below this critical score in their test papers had all been refused 
admission then seven out of the eleven who were flunked out 
would have been eliminated at the start. Furthermore, eight of 
the seventeen who were placed on probation for poor scholarship 
would have been eliminated. And at the same time, not one of 
the students who was able to carry the work would have been 
prevented from getting a college education. It would probably 



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Plate XXXI. — Showing distribution of Freshmen in terms of mental test 
scores; also the scholastic records of the young women. 



have been better to save these fifteen young women the discour- 
agement which comes from failure and to advise them to take 
up some other work. 

In Plate XXXII we have what is technically called a scatter 
diagram. On it each Freshman is shown as a dot, so placed as to 
indicate (a) the intelligence test rating and (6) the combined 
estimate of her instructors. (These estimates range from 1 to 10, 
10 being the highest estimate.) Thus the student at the extreme 
lower left hand corner received a mental test rating of — 20 and 
the instructors' estimate of 1, whereas the student at the extreme 
upper right hand corner received a rating of +105 and an esti- 
mate of 10. The correlation here between intelligence test 
ratings and combined instructors' estimates is +0.60. 

Two critical scores are shown in this plate. All the Freshmen 
rated below the lower critical mental test rating (+10) are below 
the average in the opinion of the faculty and all who scored above 



29 



CORRELATION BETWEEN HUMAN TRAITS 



221 



the upper critical mental test rating ( + 85) are rated above the 
average in the opinion of the faculty. 

The correlation of +0.60 tells us here how close the relation- 
ship is between test ratings and the instructors' estimates. The 
critical scores mark those points at which we can divide the 
group into three parts, so that all the inferior students in both 



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Plate XXXII. — Scatter diagram showing relation between instructors' estimate 
and mental test rating. 

test and instructors' estimates are at one end, all the superior 
students in both cases are at the other end, and the remainder 
of the students are in between. Such conditions are essential 
if good diagnostic results are to be obtained. 



Trade and Educational Tests 

What is needed in schools and industry is tests that measure 
ability to do certain specific work, such as column addition, with 
a specified degree of speed and accuracy, handwriting of such 
and such merit, driving an auto truck up to standard require- 
ments, or doing the woi'k of a journey man carpenter. Such 
tests differ from intelligence tests as discussed above for they 
measure specific ability (or performance) to do a definite task 
at this time, not general ability. The Kansas Silent Reading 
Test (Lesson 21) is typical of many educational tests. Plate 
XXXIII shows a portion of the Thorndike Handwriting Scale. 
The handwriting of any individual can be compared with the 
specimens in the scale and graded accordingly. 



IV 


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72 ■ 


77 


80 


8.6 


9.3 


9.9 


10.5 


11.0 


10.1 


10.8 


11.4 


12.0 


12.5 



222 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

The norms proposed for handwriting in terms of this scale 
are : — 



Grade II III 

Speed' 35 45 

Quality : 

Usual 7.0 7.8 

Best 8.5 9.3 



During the war thousands of soldiers were trade-tested in 
order to determine how good they were along certain occupa- 
tional lines of value to the army. Men claiming auto truck 
driving experience, for example, were required to drive a truck 
over a standardized course on which they were scored on certain 
specified points, as, for example, driving forwards and then back- 
wards over an S-curve without running off the road. In this 
way the truck driving ability of each of such soliders was meas- 
ured according to a standardized procedure and so expressed that 
every trade-test officer understood just what it meant. (Con- 
trast this highly standardized method of measurement with 
our present inability to state what a 4th or 12th grade student can 
do.) 

Vocational Guidance Tests 

Vocational guidance tests differ from both intelligence tests 
and trade tests in that they are made to indicate future ability 
to do certain specific work after the individual has been trained 

' Speed indicates "letters per minute" without substantial loss in quality 
of writing, when the material being written is so familiar as to require no 
time for study or reflection, and when the total time of the test trial is not 
over three minutes. 

Usual Quality, the quality used by the pupil in history, geography or 
composition papers, is probably a better practical index of efficiency than 
the writing done in the writing class or under instructions to "write as well 
as possible." 

Best Quality indicates the quality written when the instructions are to 
"write as well as you can." The above standards are the medians that may 
reasonably be expected at the middle of the second half year in each grade, 
where the school is fairly typical of American public schools in its population 
and is well organized. 



29 CORRELATION BETWEEN HUMAN TRAITS 223 

for the work, whereas inteUigence tests measure general abihty 
to learn and retain, and trade tests measure present, not future 
abihty. When really serviceable vocational guidance tests 
have been developed it will be possible to foretell whether an 
individual can make good or not along this or that line. 

Very few such tests are in existence today. Probably the 
best developed series is that of Seashore^ for determining musical 
ability. The Bureau of Personnel Research at Carnegie Insti- 



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Plate XXXIII. — Samples taken from Thorndike Scale for Handwriting. 

tutc of Technology is engaged in developing trade and vocational 
guidance tests which will indicate whom to hire and whom not 
to hire as salesmen for life insurance companies. In Plate 
XXXIV is shown one of the latest developments in this field. 
Seventy-five men and women in the School of Life Insurance 
Salesmanship were given five tests and an extensive application 
blank to fill out. The combined scores from all six blanks are 
' C. E. Seashore, Psychology of Musical Talent, 1919. 



224 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 



expressed in figures from —11 to +24. Later the production 
records of these individuals were obtained and checked against 
the test scores. The plate shows quite clearly that the methods 
employed here by Ream and Yoakum have high predictive value 
as to who can pass the course and who will sell insurance after 
they graduate. 

Interest Analysis. — In addition to intelligence tests, interest 
analysis blanks have been found very useful as a part of trade 













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29 CORRELATION BETWEEN HUMAN TRAITS 225 

and vocational guidance tests. Here the applicant is given a 
list of items arranged in groups, such as: — 



actors 


fat men 


sporting pages 


architect 


fat women 


love stories 


artist 


thin men 


detective stories 


astronomer 


thin women 


Harold Bell Wright 


auctioneer 


tall men 


Life (the magazine) 



After each item he is asked to indicate his reaction to it by a letter; 
L, if he likes the object in question; D, if he dislikes it; 0, if he 
has no decided feeling; and U, if he has no knowledge of the 
item. 

Men who become successful Hfe insurance salesmen like the 
following: — outdoor work, working with people, people with 
opinions opposite to one's own, fashionably dressed people, chil- 
dren, ministers, lawyers, conservative people, working alone, 
talkative people, etc. An individual, it has been found, is not 
so hkely to succeed, if he hkes the following: — being an architect, 
or draftsman, or auto repair man; working with things, writing 
personal letters, cautious people, carelessly dressed people, 
gamblers, undertakers. 

At the present time theories are out of place as to why such 
likes and dislikes have anything to do with selling. The fact of 
the case is that they are of diagnostic value. 



15 



LESSON 30 
SUMMARY OF LESSONS 19 TO 29 

The first part of this text-book has dealt with the learn in<>; 
process, and the second part with individual differences. A third 
general conception has been developed as to the meaning of Situa- 
tion, Bond and Response. These conceptions can be schematically 
represented by the learning curve, the surface of distribution and 
by the letters S-B-R. 

What has been covered in this second part may be grouped 
under six main heads: — 

Causes of Individual Differences 

A great number of factors combine to produce any one individ- 
ual. How many these are and what they are is largely unknown. 
The thyroid gland has been pointed out as one such factor. But 
there is little ground to believe that it is a factor independent 
entirely of other factors; rather it is to be supposed that it affects 
many other factors and that they in turn affect it. 

All the factors that affect an individual and so cause him to 
differ from other individuals may be grouped under the two 
heads of heredity and environment. Each individual is born 
with a certain combination of factors. And each individual is 
confronted with a different environment from all of his fellows. 
What he finally becomes is due to the effect of these two. The 
modifications of his native behavior due to efforts to adjust him- 
self to his environment is called training. Training is thus 
always a composite of heredity and environment. In lessons 
31 to 50 many additional facts will be pointed out showing just 
how heredity and environment contribute toward training. 

How Individuals Differ 

Contrary to popular notion, men do not divide up into two or 
more sharply defined groups or types. Instead, in nearly ever}^ 

226 



29 CORRELATION BETWEEN HUMAN TRAITS 227 

case, they are found to all belong to one type. But not all mem- 
bers of the type are alike; they all differ more or less. Their 
differences may, however, be viewed as variations from a central 
tendency, or average individual. And, moreover, many individ- 
uals are found to differ only a little from this central tendency 
and only a very few individuals to differ greatly from it. The 
normal surface of distribution pictures this conception. 

In comparing individuals who belong to different groups, such 
as whites and negroes, or army officers and enlisted men, or fourth 
grade and eighth grade children, it is found that members of the 
two groups overlap; that seldom is there a sharp break between 
two groups. So true is all this that it is extremely difficult to 
find methods to distinguish between members of different groups. 
But until such methods are discovered the sciences of employ- 
ment management and vocational guidance cannot be established. 

In the specific field of learning, individuals differ with respect 
to initial performance, amount and rate of learning, and final 
performance. The effect of heredity and previous training upon 
these three has been pointed out. 

How Traits or Abilities Within One Individual are 
Related 

Here, again, popular opinion has been found to be in error. An 
individual who is superior in one trait tends to be superior in 
many traits. Nature does not usually compensate for weakness 
in one ability by developing another to make up for it. In 
other words, desirable traits, for the most part, correlate. 

There is, however, considerable truth in the popular view, when 
viewed from another angle. The child, for example, who is 
awkward in athletic games goes off and does something else. 
Later in life he may be noted for the musical talent which would 
not have been developed if he had played like other boys. The 
key to an understanding of many a person's behavior is a knowl- 
edge of his former failures, for by now they are covered up as 
well as possible and compensated for through interest in other 
activities. Often, although not always, the failures remain sore 
points and unexpected reactions occur when they are touched 
upon. The story in Lesson 1 of the man who objected to the 



228 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

church bells is an example of an unexpected reaction because of 
the soreness of failure. 

The Basis from Which to Measure Individual 
Differences 

Any group of individuals, barring exceptional cases, are 
distributed about a central tendency, as pictured by a surface of 
distribution. The natural point from which to measure how each 
individual differs from the group is this central tendency, or 
position of the average person. Each individual can then be 
thought of as so much superior or inferior to this central tendency. 
Now this is just what a man ordinarily does when he expresses 
a judgment about another. He states that the other one is tall 
or short, good or bad, educated or uneducated, in terms of his 
notion of what an average man is in that respect. So the most 
prominent minister, or doctor, or school teacher, or carpenter 
in a small town is rated very superior, just because he is superior 
to the average in the town. In terms of average ability in his 
line in the state he may be quite inferior. But an interesting 
aspect of such judgments is that the average man does not realize 
he is making judgments in terms of a central tendency; he thinks 
he is making them in terms of perfection. Grades in school are 
always viewed as expressing the percentage of perfection attained 
by the child. The two lessons on grading students make clear 
that this is not and cannot be the case. 

Norms have recently been developed to enable judgments to 
be made in terms of definite standards which all can understand. 
A norm, we have seen, is a measure of what an average person can 
do, based on measurements of a large number of individuals. So 
we have today norms for the various grades in certain work in 
arithmetic, for handwriting, spelhng, and the Uke. In the future 
norms will exist for a great deal of school work and for much in 
industry. A norm is not, however, a standard of perfection, but 
a standard in terms of average performance. 

In the field of testing general intelligence, or mental alertness, 
mental age is employed as a measure. It is often divided by 
actual age giving a quotient or ratio, called the I.Q. The inten- 
tion is to have this I.Q. so standardized that the decimal 1.00 
will represent normal abiHty, i. e., the proper mental develop- 



30 SUMMARY OF LESSONS 19 TO 29 229 

ment for the individual with that actual age. And the word 
''proper" means in this connection that mental development 
which goes on the average with the given actual age. 

Statistical Tools in the Study of Individual 
Differences 

An introductory psychology is not the place to stress statis- 
tical methods. But without comprehension of certain statis- 
tical tools one can hardly understand many important facts and 
principles dealing with individual differences. 

There are three measures of the central tendency. Everyone 
is familiar with the average of a set of figures. But few are at 
all famihar with the other two measures — median and mode. 
The method of obtaining them can be illustrated from the data 
given in Table VII. The median means the middle datum when 
all the data have been arranged in order of merit. Thus the 
median performance in the fourth grade would be 6 problems 
attempted and 33-^ problems solved correctly, for 50% of the 
pupils did better, or equal to, 6 and 3>^ respectively, and 
50% did poorer, or equal to, these two medians. The mode, 
on the other hand, means that performance which is typical 
of the largest number of individuals. Thus, the mode would be 
6 problems attempted (21% did 6 and only 14% did 7 or 5) and 
3 and 4 solved correctly (14% did both 3 and 4). In the latter 
case there are two modes, is quite often the case.^ The 
mode is not used very often, but the median is used very fre- 
quently in the field of educational psychology. It has this 
decided advantage over the average that it tells at what point 
a class, for example, is divided into two equal parts, so that half 
of the students are superior to the median and half inferior. 

Measurement of variability of a group from its central tend- 
ency is obtained by the average deviation. There are other 
measures but lack of space forbids mention of them. 

A complete expression of both central tendency and variability 
is afforded by the surface of distribution. 

' The student who is interested will find it worth while to refer to E. L. 
Thorndike, TheorijoJ Mental and Social Measurements, 1913; H. O. Rugg, 
Statistical Methods Applied to Education, 1917; or C. Alexander, School 
Statistics and Publicity, 1919, 



230 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

The relationship of one trait to another is measured by the 
coefficient of correlation. It may be pictured by a scatter 
diagram. 

Methods of Measuring Individual Differences 

When considering psychological factors, individuals are usually 
measured from a central tendency or norm. But they are 
measured by means of some test. When a measure of general 
native ability is desired, some form of intelligence or mental 
alertness test is employed. When a specific native ability is to 
be measured the appropriate vocational guidance or aptitude 
test is employed, and in some cases an interest analysis blank is 
also used. When a measure of training along some line is 
desired, the appropriate trade or educational test is used. The 
better the aptitude test is, the more it measures ability in the one 
trait under study and the less it is affected by ability in other 
lines. Similarly, the better the trade or educational test, the 
more it measures specific training as expressed in doing a certain 
performance and the less it is affected by general ability. 

Certain general applications naturally follow:— 

Application to Some Educational Problems 

Learning has been reduced to making connections— forming 
new bonds. And teaching consequently becomes the art and 
science whereby proper situations are presented so that children 
will react as desired. In so reacting new bonds are constantly 
being formed and old bonds as constantly being strengthened 
through use. 

The problem of individual differences is a very big problem in 
the educational world and must be taken into consideration in 
teaching and administrative work. Children differ very mate- 
rially. Such differences are caused jointly by heredity and by 
training. The differences in training can to a large degree be 
taken care of through putting those with extra training ahead of 
those with less training. But the differences due to heredity 
cannot be disposed of so easily. Superiority in heredity means 
that the child is going to advance rapidly; inferiority in heredity 
means that the child is going to advance slowly. This is shown 



30 SUMMARY OF LESSONS 19 TO 20 231 

diagrammatically in Plate XV. It means that any class 
always tends to fly apart. The more training a group has, the 
more the children are going to become unlike. Trammg does 
not make people alike, it makes them unlike. The bright child 
gets all of his lesson, the dull child but half. The next day the 
bright child gets all of the new lesson; the dull child cannot do as 
well as he did before, because part of the new lesson depends on 
that part of the first lesson he didn't get. He consequently gets 
less than half of the second lesson. So as time continues the 
gap between the two widens. 

As things are conducted today, average children are fairly 
well taken care of. The pace set is too slow for the bright 
children and too fast for the dull children. The bright children 
are not encouraged to work hard. They can easily get their 
lessons in a few minutes ''any old time." The dull are discour- 
aged for they can't possibly keep pace. What is needed today 
is a system so elastic that all can keep working at their own pace. 
Some advocate here that the pace be set for the dull child and 
the better children be persuaded to do more work on the side 
and in a better manner. The dull child will then get the sheer 
essentials, the others a richer and richer course depending on 
their ability. But how is such a course to be conducted ? Others 
advocate various schemes for rapid or slow promotion depending 
on the different children. 

With the use of an intelligence test the innate mental alertness 
of each child can be determined. Such results are being used to 
solve this problem of properly grading children. In this way 
children of the same intelligence are put together. Such a plan 
is easily workable in a large city school system where there are 
several sections in each grade anyway. It is not so easdy applied 
to small school systems. 

Another problem is immediately brought to the fore as soon as 
such a classification of pupils on the basis of intelligence is accom- 
plished. Shall the bright pupils be allowed to finish the grammar 
school in considerably less time than average children? Many 
have advocated this. Others have advocated an enriched cur- 
riculum for the brighter children so that they will spend the 
same time in each grade that average children spend, but cover 
much more ground. The best argument in favor of the latter 
program is that bright children may be superior to average chil- 



232 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

dren in intelligence, yet many of them are no more advanced than 
the average child in emotional development. And the child's 
best social development comes from having him with those of 
the same emotional development. If high schools and colleges 
should sometime be organized to take care of highly intelligent 
but socially immature pupils, then it might be wise to force 
bright children ahead; but until that time, an enriched curricu- 
lum seems to the writer the best procedure in the handling of 
superior children. 

One teaching device based on the principles covered in this 
test should be considered in this connection. It is embodied in 
the Courtis Standard Practice Tests. These are. drill blanks given 
to children in the grades and so arranged that each child can 
progress as fast as he is able, but the whole class is kept busy at 
the same time. The first two tests and the record sheet covering 
these tests are shown in Plates XXXV and XXXVI. On the 
first day every child is given a copy of Lesson 1. Suppose it is a 
4th Grade class. The children are then allowed 6 minutes to 
do the lesson.^ At the end of the six minutes the papers are 
corrected and each child records his record in his Record Book. 
On the second day, if any child finished the first lesson correctly 
within the six minutes he is not required to do Lesson 1 over 
again but is supplied with Lesson 2 instead. The remainder of 
the class repeat Lesson I. So it goes throughout the year. It is 
conceivable that after forty-eight days a very bright child would 
have entirely finished all 48 lessons whereas a very dull child 
would still be on the first lesson. Courtis, however, advocates 
that after several failures, individual instruction be given the 
backward child and if that is not sufficient to bring him up, that 
he be allowed to go to the next lesson. In Plate XXXVI are 
shown two individual records on the one sheet. (Ordinarily 
only one record would appear On a page.) N has required 15 
days in which to finish Lesson 1. The solid line traces the 
number of problems he did each day and the broken line the 
number he got correct. M, on the other hand, finished Lesson 
1 in five days and Lesson 2 in two more days. (As there are but 
61 problems in Lesson 2, 61 is of course the standard set in that 
lesson.) His record for Lesson 3 would be scored on another page 

^ The other grades are given a shorter time. The 5th grade is allowed 4% 
min.; the 6th grade 4 min., the 7th grade 33-2 min., and the 8th grade 3 min. 



30 



SUMMARY OF LESSONS 19 TO 29 



233 



and so does not appear here. He finished up four lessons while 
M was doing one. 

The point to be noted about this scheme is that it provides a 
method by which the entire class can be put at arithmetical work 



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and at the same time the lessons may be varied in accordance 
with individual differences. Moreover each child plots his own 

1 The latest edition of these practice tests shows Lesson No. 1 as" above. 
But Lesson No. 2 now comprises 70 problems instead of 6L The Graph 
Sheet in Plate XXIX is also from an eariier edition of the "Student's Record 
and Practice." (By permission of World Book Company.) 



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234 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

learning curves and so knows just how he is advancing day by 
day. He has the stimulation of racing against others and also 
against himself. This whole procedure is typical of a general 
method that can be employed by most teachers. 

GRAPH SHEET 

FOR 
Lesson No. 1 . . 72 examples Lesson No. 2 . . 61 examples 

LESSON NO. 




ST «7 .67 . 67 

66 / 66 f 66 66 

66 I ^i I 66 66 

64 / 6t ' 64 64 

63 / 63/ 63 63 




J3 / 63/ 63 >-■».- 

62 / e*' 62 61 62 62 62 ^ 62 ^^ 62 \62/ i» 62 62 62 

6l/ /el 61 61 61 l> M tn JUt^ 61 61 W/ 61 61 61 61 

W , 60 60 60 60 f^ 60 /lils /eO 60 60 ^ •» 60 60 60 , 60 

69 '69 69 69 69 ''(l9^ 69 / 69 69 M 69 69 69 H 6* 

68 / 68 58 68 63 W 68 / 68 68 / 68 68 68 68 68 68 

m 67 67 67 67 67 67/ 57/ 67 •» 67 67 67 67 67 

66 / 66 66 66 66 W 66/ 66 / 66 86 66 56 66 56 

65 65 56 W 6» 65 65 65 55 65 55 

54 54 54 /54 /64 64 64 54 54 54 54 

63 53 53 / 53 53 53 63 63 53 53 53 

52 62 52 52 62 / 62 / 62 62 62 62 62 52 62 
51 
60 




INSTRUCTIONS: After each trial, in the column corresponding to the number of the 
trial, draw a short horizontal line through your score in examples tried. Using a ruler, 
draw a heavy line from this point to the score marked in the previous column. In 
like manner draw a curve for Rights, using a heavy broken line. More than one graph 
can be drawn on this page; see Model, page 4. When you have completed the lesson 
successfully, band in this record book with your paper. 

Plate XXXVI. — Graph sheet. Showing record of two children, M and N. M 
finishes Lesson No. 1 in 5 days and Lesson No. 2 in two days more. N requires 
15 days to complete Lesson No. 1 in the allotted time. 

An entirely different scheme for providing for individual differ- 
ences is utilized in this course. Each lesson contains as many 
"leads" as even the best student will have time to follow. 
Every minute devoted to study is sure to add something to 
his training or store of information. At the same time each 



30 SUMMARY OF LESSONS 19 TO 29 235 

lesson is easy enough so that the poorest student, deserving only 
to pass the course, can obtain sufficient grounding in the funda- 
mentals of the course to pass and go on. The better the student, 
the more thorough a grasp of the material will be obtained, but 
all will get a worth while amount. If two or three times as much 
time were devoted to the course, the poorer students would get 
more from the course, but the better students would not be kept 
busy and so would not get the maximum training they have a 
right to receive in return for their tuition and time. 

Realization of what this problem of individual differences 
means gives us a new point of view with regard to the whole 
subject of education. The overlapping of children in the several 
grades is being studied from many angles and ere long a more 
satisfactory solution of this phase of individual differences will 
appear. The old schemes for grading students are doomed and 
new ones based on our further knowledge of how children differ 
are taking their place. Because of better and better understand- 
ing of what each child can do and is best fitted for, there will 
result less antagonism to education and social authority and 
happier children, parents, teachers and supervisors. 

Not only are the problems of education viewed in a new way 
but also all social problems. The handling of criminals, of 
paupers, of incompetent workers, of insane, of all exceptional 
individuals, has become a different proposition. Changes in 
our penal institutions, the rise of Juvenile Courts, of indeter- 
minate sentences, of parole from penitentiaries, the interest in 
eugenics, in scientific vocational guidance, in personnel work, etc., 
are all related to each other — all manifestations of the view that 
individuals are not all alike nor can they be divided into sharply 
contrasting types, but that all are merely variations of greater or 
less degree from the average. 

The student who has not simply learned about these things 
but has formed the habit of analyzing educational problems into 
situations and responses has gained something which will help 
him in all his work. As an aid in making such analyses this 
course has been devised so as to develop habits of solving prob- 
lems by asking these questions: 

1. What specifically is my problem? — the problem. 

2. How may I study this problem? — the procedure. 



236 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

3. What are my facts? — the results. 

4. What do the facts mean? — the interpretation. 

5-. How can I use the deductions? — the appKcations. 

Whether a student has got these things from the course or 
not eventually comes down to whether he has the ability to 
acquire such complicated conceptions (bonds) and has had the 
industry to develop them. 



^J 



INDEX 



Accuracy vs. speed, p. 45^, 02/ 

Alexander, C, p. 40, 229 

Alphabet, learning of, p. 9/, 29/, 33/ 

Analogy, law of, p. 94, 114 

Anger, p. 61 

Anthony, K., p. 52 

Army intelligence test, p. 215, 217/, 

230, 231 
Associative shifting, p. 79/, 81, 131/ 
Attitude, p. 50/, 59/, 117 

affects speed and accuracy, p. 

50/, 62/ 
problem, p. 61, 120 
relation to learning, p. 59/ 
self-attentive, p. 59/ 
suggestible, p. 60 
Average, p. 145, 229 

deviation, p. 135/, 145/, 
148/, 186, 229 
method of obtaining, p. 138/ 
use of, as a measure of indi- 
vidual differences, p. 145/, 
186, 229 

B and BX Test, p. 52/, 151/ 
Behavior, p. 11, 13, 16/, 20/, 26, 
27, 127 
analysis of, p. 23/; in case of 
Carl, p. 17/, 37/; in case of 
Sam, p. 18/ 
components of, p. 16/, 20/ 

24/ 127. 
psychology, as the science of, 
p. 3, 11/. 
Belief, p. 7/ 

Binet-Simon test, p. 217, 219 
Bond, p. 21, 22/, 26/, 36/, 127/ 

factors affecting strength of, 

p. 100/ 
learned or unlearned, p. 127/ 
Book, W. F., p. 59, 69 



Boring, E. G., p. 178 
Brandenburg, G. C., p. 187 
Brinton, W. C., p. 40 
Bryan, W. L., p. 69 



Cattell, J. M., p. 177 
Classification of children in school, 

p. 231/ 
Coefficient of correlation, p. 135, 
206/, 230 

definition of, p. 209/ 

method of obtaining, p. 207/ 

use of, p. 214/ 
Color-blindness, p. 157/ 
Combinations, p. 172 
Compensation, p. 213, 227/ 
Complex, p. 6 

Components of behavior, see Be- 
havior. 
Conception, general, p. 123/ 
Conditioned reflex, p. 76 
Conduct, evaluation of, p. 5 
Confidence, p. 49 
Consciousness, p. 11/, 23/ 
Contrast, effect upon learning, p. 

102/ 
Correlation, see Coefficient of. 

between human traits, p. 213/, 
227 
Courtis Arithmetic Test, p. 185/ 
Courtis, S. A., p. 185, 232 
Courtis Standard Practice Test, 

p. 232/ 
Cretinism, p. 182/ 
Crile, G. W., p. 184 
Criterion, p. 217 

de Fursac, J. R., p. 7 
Dementia prtecox, p. 7 
Denny, C. C, p. 146 ' 



237 



23S 



INDEX 



Dissatisfaction, see Satisfaction. 
Distraction, p. 105 
Drill, p. 14, 55, 107 

Ebbinghaus, H., p. 91, 97 

Educational tests, p. 217, 221/, 230 

B and BX, p. 52^, 151# 

Courtis Arithmetic, p. 185/ 

Courtis Standard Practice, 

p. 232jf 
Kansas Silent Reading, p. 

146#, 179/, 184/, 222 
Thorndike Handwriting Scale, 
p. 222/ 
Effect, law of, p. 103/, 105 
Emotion, p. 61, 103 
Employment management, p. 227 
Environment, as cause of individual 
differences, p. 22, 157^, 
182/, 226 
Experiments, how to write up, p. 
30/; how to plot curves, 
p. 30/, 39/, 44; use of tables 
of statistics and curves, p. 
140/ 
list of, alphabet, learning of, 
p. 29jf 
coefficient of correlation, how 

to obtain, p. 206# 
factors affecting strength of 

bond, p. 99 
grading students, p. 188/ 
individual differences, gen- 
eral law as to, p. 170/ 
in learning mirror-draw 
ing, p. 140/ 
simple arithmetical 
combinations, p. 151/ 
memory, how to remember, 

p. 108/ 
memory-span, p. 85/ 
mirror-drawing, learning of, 

p. 41/, 56/ 
retention of, p. 84 
vocabulary, learning of, p. 
70/ 
retention of, p. 85 



Fatigue, relation of rest periods to, 

p. 8/ 
Fear, p. 61 
Feeling, relation of learning to, p. 

61/ 
Flight of ideas, p. 7 
Forgetting, p. 128; see Retention. 
Freud, S, p. 128 

Garrison, S. C, p. 215 

Gates, A. I., p. 88 

Gilchrist, E. P., p. 120 

Goitre, p. 182 

Gordon, K., p. 78 

Grades for scholarship, p. 188/, 
191/ 
how to grade papers, p. 202 
how to record grades, p. 203/ 
systems of grading students, p. 
191/ 

Habits, p. 94, 12S; see Learning. 

general, p. 123/ 
Hart, B., p. 6 
Harter, N., p. 69 
Hate, p. 61 

Heredity, cause of individual differ- 
ences, p. 157/ 182/ 226 
Hollingworth, H. L., p. 107, 119 
Holmgren test, p. 157/ 
Howell, W. H., p. 184 

Incoherent speech, p. 7 
Individual differences, p. 135/, 
140/, 143/ 151/ 157/ 
170/ 173/ 188/, 191/ 
217/, 226/ 

application to educational 
problems, p. 136/, 143/, 
147, 164, 168/, 187, 191/ 
205, 230/ 

basis from which to measure, 
p. 194, 228/, 230. 

causes of, p. 157/, 182/, 226 

general law as to how individ- 
uals differ, p. 170/ 226/ 

in arithmetical work, p. 151/, 
. 154/ 167/ 



INDEX 



239 



Individual differences, in English, 
p. 146^, 186 
in initial and final ability in 

learning, p. 150, 206# 
in intelligence, p. 179^ 
in Kansas Silent Reading 

Test, p. UQff, 184/ 
in learning, p. 144/ 

arithmetical work, p. 
in mirror-drawing, p. 140^ 
measured by A. D., p. 137, 

148^, 186, 229 
statistical methods, p. 135, 
145^-, U8ff, 229/ 
Instincts, p. 128/ 
Integration, p. 132 
Intelligence quotient (I. Q.), P- 21S, 
228 
tests, p. 215, 217^, 230, 231 
Army Alpha, p. 179/, 219 
Binet-Simon, p. 217, 219 
Stanford revision of Binet, 

pr 217/ 
use of, for college entrance, 

p. 219 
Yerkes-Bridges Point Scale, 
p. 215 
Interest, analysis of, p. 225 
Interference, p. 54/, 104/, 128/ 

Jastrow, J., p. 209 

Jury system of grading, p. 192 

Kansas Silent Reading Test, 14Gjf, 

179/, 184/, 222 
Kelley, T. L., p. 216 
"Known to unknown," p. 106 

Ladd, G. T., p. 69 
Learning, application to educational 
problems, children vs. 
adults, p. 81 
curve, characteristics of, p. 
33/, 129 
fluctuations in, p. 34/, 129, 

145 
physiological limit, p. 48, 
51/, 129 



Learning, plateau, p. 47/, 51, 129 
examples of, p. 10, 46, 50, 
53/, 160, 162, 164/69 1, 
234 
how to plot a curve, p. 30/, 
39/, 44 
amount vs. time, p. 159/ 
use of, in teaching, p. 48/ 
definition of, p. 128, 133 
distributed vs. concentrated, 

p. 8/, 118 
effect of attitude upon, p. 59/62/ 
of differences in heredity 

upon, p. 162/, 167/ 

of method upon, p. 59, 62/ 

of position upon, p. 14, 82/ 

of previous training upon, 

p. 161/, 163/ 167/ 

formation of new bonds, p. 129/ 

stimulus substitution, p. 

74/ 81, 131 
trial-and-error, p. 64/ 
81, 129/ 
habits, or memories, p. 94 
laws of, p. 129 
motive for, p. 119/ 
planned or accidental, p. 63/ 
relearning, p. 94/ 
reorganization of bonds, p. 81 
105/ 131/ 
associative shifting, p. 79/, 

81, 131/ 
integration, p. 132 
short-circuiting, p. 132 
saving method, and. p. 97 
strength of bond, p. 99, 100/ 133 
due to, effect of satisfaction 
and dissatisfaction, p. 
103/, 105 
intensity of stimulus, p. 

101/ 
interference, p. 54/, 104/, 

128/ 
lapse of time, p. 84/ 104 
repetition, p. 73/ 101, 
115, 117, 131. 
warming-up, p. 95 



240 



INDEX 



Learning, whole vs. sectional method, 

p. 118 
Lesson, object of, p. 16/, 22 
Love, p. 61 

McGahey, M. L., p. 52 
Meaning, p. 77 
Median, p. 229 
Memory, see Retention. 

incidental, p. 119 
Memory-span, p. 85^, 96 
Mental age, p. 218 
Method, relation to learning, p. 59, 

62/ 
Meyer, M., p. 193 
Mirror-drawing experiment, p. 41jf, 

45#, 56/, 59/ 
Missouri system of grading, p. 1 93/ 
Mnemonic devices, p. 81/ 
Mode, p. 229 
Moron, p. 176 
Motive, p. 119/ 
Myers, G. C, p. 118 

Nonsense syllable, p. 97 
Norm, p. 146/, 155/, 228 
Normal curve of distribution, p. 135, 
171/, 173#, 176, 195# 
applied to grading scholar- 
ship, p. 195#, 200# 
surface of distribution, p. 

171/, mff 

Novelty, p. 106/ 

O'Brien, J. G., p. 51 
Overflow of energy, p. 67 
Overlapping of distributions, p. 184.;^ 

Partial identity, law of, p. 80 
Pawlow, J. P., p. 76 
Permutations, p. 172 
Physiological limit, p. 48, 51/, 129 
Plateau, p. 47/, 51, 129 
Points for quality, p. 199 
Praise, effect of, p. 104 
Prompting method, p. 83 
Psychological tests, see Tests. 



Psychology, definition of, p. 3, 11/ 
scope of, p. Iff, 11 

Reading, p. 13/, 147 

Ream, M. J., p. 225 

Reasoning, p. 68 

Recall memory, p. Uff, 21, 92, 97, 

114/ 
Recognition memorj'^, p. 14/, 21, 92, 

97, 114/ 
Reflex action, p. 127/ 
Reorganization, p. 81, 105/, 131/ 
Response, p. 17/, 22/ 35, 75/, 113/ 
Retention, p. 84/ 89/ 

amount of practice, effect upon, 

p. 90 
curve of forgetting, p. 92 
how to memorize, p. 117/ 
how to secure efficient reproduc- 
tion, p. 120/ 
memorizing a vocabulary, p. 

77/, 81/ 
memory-span, p. 85/ 96 
methods employed in studying, 
p. 97 
learning and saving, p. 97 
prompting method, p. 83, 

118 
recognition, p. 97 
mnemonic devices in memoriz- 
ing, p. 81/ 
motor habits, p. 92 
over-learning, p. 92 
physiological basis for, p. 93/ 
primary and secondary, p. 95/ 
recall memory, see Recall mem- 
ory, 
recognition memory, see Re- 
cognition memory 
relearning, p. 94/ 
reproduction, p. 108, 115 
rote memory, p. 74/ 
threshold of recall, p. 114 
time interval, effect upon, p, 

89/ 
"training" the memory, p. 116/ 
warming-up, p. 95 



INDEX 



241 



Review, effect of, p. 117 
Rosanoff, A. J., p. 7 
Rugcr, H. A., p. 59, 60, (39 
Rugg, H. O., p. 229 

Satisfaction, p. 103/, 105 
Scatter diagram, p. 220 
Scientific management, p. 9 
Seashore, C. E., p. 223 
Short-circuiting, p. 132 
Sight-spelling lesson, p. 13, 20^^ 
Situation, p. 17#, 22/, 35, 75/, 1,13/ 

160 
complex, p. 5, 23/ 
distinguished from stimulus, p. 

26 
Spelling, p. 13/ 
Starch, D., p. 69, 214 
Statistical methods, p. 135, 145/, 

148/, 229/ 
Stiles, C. W., p. 87 
Stimulus, see Situation 
intensity of, p. 101/ 
substitution, p. 74/, 81, 
summation of stimuli, p. SO 

131 
Strong, E. K, Jr., p. 19, 52, 91, 115, 

215 
Strong, M. H., p. 115 
Summation of stimuli, p. 80 
Surface of distribution, p. 171/, 

173/, 229 

Tarkington, B., p. 2 



Teaching, definition of, p. 133/ 
Terman, L. M., p. 217 
Tests, psychological, p. 217/, 230 
educational, see Educational 

tests 
intelligence, sec Intelligence 

tests 
trade, p. 217, 221/, 230 
vocational guidance, p. 217, 
223/ 
Thorndike, E. L., p. 69, 103, 175, 

214, 222, 229 
Thurstone, L. L., p. 219 
Thyroid gland, p. 182/ 
Trade tests, p. 217, 221/, 230 
Training, cause of individual differ- 
ences, p. 157/, 182/ 
Transfer of training, p. 68 
Trial-and-error learning, p. 64/, 81, 

129/ 
Tri-trix puzzle, p. 130 

Vocabulary, learning of, p. 70/, 73/ 
Vocational guidance, p. 216, 230 
tests of, p. 217, 223/ 

Watson, J. B., p. 103 
Whipple, G. M., p. 69 
Wolf, R. B., p. 51 
Woodworth, R. S., p. 69 
Writing, p. 13/ 

Yerkes, R. M., p. 215 
Yoakum, C. S., p. 225 



